


Teenage Wasteland

by 1lostone



Series: Into the Sky [3]
Category: The Walking Dead (Comics), The Walking Dead (TV), The Walking Dead (Video Games), The Walking Dead - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Alternate Universe- Zombies, Background Rickyl, Clementine and Carl Friendship, Discussions of forced intercourse for the purpose of making babies.... is that a tag?, Discussions of puberty, Dungeons and Dragons, First Crush, Gen, Just tagging to be safe-but it's off off screen., M/M, Off-screen Rape, Off-screen dubcon, Population modification, Rickyl, The Monroe in this story is NOT a certain well-loved character whose name is Biblical in nature!, i blame jlm for everything, it is now., population control
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-03
Updated: 2015-07-09
Packaged: 2018-04-02 17:47:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 26,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4068943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1lostone/pseuds/1lostone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clementine has seen a lot. She's a pragmatic girl, and with everything she's been through, knows that sometimes bad things happen to good people. Being a kid as Daryl says, "After everything went t'shit." has a whole slew of its own problems to cope with, let alone just being a normal thirteen year old kid.  However, when Clem and Carl discover that there's something not quite right in Alexandria, they're put in a situation that not even Rick and Daryl can save them from...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> **A/N:** Please be aware that there is **NOTHING EXPLICIT BETWEEN CARL AND CLEM IN THIS STORY.** I just really needed Clem and Carl being bffs is all. Don’t judge me. The rating is such because of gore and general canon-typical ickiness, not for anything sexual. In this ‘verse, Clementine is 13 or so, and Carl is 15.
> 
>  
> 
> The Monroe in this story is NOT a certain well-loved comic character whose name is Biblical in nature!

This was written as a companion piece to [Into the Sky.](http://archiveofourown.org/series/207212) and [Living is Easy with Eyes Closed](http://archiveofourown.org/works/3382421)\- set during the three-year time jump. If you somehow found this one by mistake, or first, you might need to give [Into the Sky.](http://archiveofourown.org/series/207212) a read first or things are going to be disjointed and out of whack.  Speaking of which remember this is firmly in the land of AU-ness now. :)

 

Please be aware of the tags.

 

* * *

 

“Ha! I rolled a 20! Critical hit, bitches!”

 

Clementine met Carl’s gaze and smiled a little when he rolled his eyes. She was new enough to the game that she was still unsure about all the rolls and keeping track of things, but Carl had asked if she wanted to come, and there was nothing that Carl could do that she couldn’t do, so here she was.  She took a second to arrange her character sheet. She had to borrow Carl’s dice, until they found her her own.

 

The garage door was open, letting in the light. Clem knew that using Rick and Daryl’s house to play was an absolute no-go; since she and Rick had arrived at the Alexandria Safe Zone they had been found in just about every room of the house doing things that Clem fervently wished never to know the details because ew, boys. So, they had found an empty house.  They’d been told that they could play there until another group of survivors needed the space. So far, so good. It was on the other block from Rick and Daryl’s house, near the garden and the community center.

 

There weren’t many teenagers in their little group. Clem was thirteen, and Carl two years older than her. There was a thin, weedy boy called Hector, who was seventeen, and Matthew, who was the eldest. He was nineteen.  Clem was the youngest, and sometimes she wasn’t sure why she hung out with these guys. Carl was okay, of course, but the rest of them were a little weird.

 

Once they’d all been settled, Rick had sat down with her and Carl and explained that there would be this... adjustment period. And he was right; it did take awhile to stop turning with a knife in hand at every sound in the night.  Clem remembered playing with kids her own age- playing tag, and having gun battles with super soakers, stuff like that had been pretty common in her neighborhood. It seemed so far away now though.

 

After what had happened to her with Lee, and later with Kenny, and even later with Rick, Clementine found it really hard to make the switch from ‘always on watch’ to ‘normal kid’. Instead of teaching herself how to kill Walkers, she had homework. Clementine had tried to stick to home as much as she could, usually with her nose stuck in a book, but Rick had gently told her that it would be good for her to get out and meet other people, so she’d gone with Carl to his D&D game.

 

But... Clementine wasn’t entirely sure how he felt about these people.

 

Take the ears, for example.

 

Hector was the most vocal, and he insisted on being called Hector the Wily. Like, in public. He wore some paper mache monstrosities that looked... well, were supposed to look, like elf ears but kind of looked like potatoes. He wore a ‘ +2 cloak of invisibility’ like all the time. When they sat down to play, he was the most focused on the game. Clem tried not to be mean to people, but Hector... Hector was a little weird. He also tended to take things that weren’t his and blame his character. Carl didn’t like him at all, and to tell the truth, Clementine even had trouble finding his good points.

 

Matthew was very quiet. He, too liked to dress up as his character, but since he was their DM, Clem never quite knew who would be answering back: Matthew, or Mattemonous the Magnificent. It had taken her a little while to cotton onto the fact that the DM was kind of a neutral person who ran the whole game. Mattemonous on their hand was their only wizard, and tended maneuver things so that he was protected at all times.  He was tall and very thin, and wore a velvety cloak that he had drawn stars on.  Daryl tended to do that thing where he bit the inside of his cheek so that he wouldn’t laugh outright when he came to check in on Clem and Carl, and the two of them would very carefully not make eye contact. Hector sometimes accused him of cheating, and would get really upset over it, but since Matthew wouldn’t let him play unless he apologized, he tended to keep it under wraps.

 

Carl played a cleric. His job was to heal any of them that needed healing from their campaign. He also had a short sword and had no problems jumping into the fight when needed.  Clem thought it was a little like their own life. She didn’t think she’d ever forget the memory of Carl kicking in the triage door, after hearing his Dad screaming. His and Daryl’s eyes had all been for Rick, but she’d been able to look at their faces. She hoped that someday, someone would love her even half as much. Carl’s cleric seemed to do a lot of the same things that Carl the non-cleric did- making sure that all of them were okay.

 

Clem, since she was new, decided to play a fighter. It was pretty simple. Her character, Clem, could fight with the best of them. Whenever there was a fracas, Clem heaved her broadsword and took care of it.  She’d been on her own with Kenny and AJ sick until kidnapped by the police people and taken to Atlanta. When Rick had been so hurt, she hadn’t technically been on her own, but it had been her responsibility to make sure he was okay- and Clem had gotten used to it. She kind of liked this alter ego of her.  Maybe because she was small, everyone assumed she couldn’t do much. It was fun to actually surprise them.

 

“So I was thinking of something else we could do. Kind of take this game to the next level, if you wanted to.” Hector’s smile was kind of scary. Clementine didn’t trust it.

 

“If you don’t like the game I run, you are welcome to leave.” Matt looked over at them over the edge of his DM screen. “Carl, roll perception.”

 

“No, no, nothing like that. I just thought of something we could do to .... make things a little more interesting, y’know?  You know the boss? Monroe?  Well, I heard that he’s... well. Doing really bad stuff.”

 

“I got a 4.”

 

“Ha. You notice that the sky is blue. Barely.”

 

Carl snorted, then looked over at Hector, as though he just realized he’d spoken. What do you mean?” Carl looked up, seemingly interested for the first time.  Clem felt him go tense besides her.  

 

“He’s got a stash of ... alcohol. Pot, all that sort of stuff in his house.”

 

“That’s contraband.” Matt’s voice was dismissive.

 

It was. There were few rules at the ASZ, but apparently keeping a clear head was something that the city councilors took pretty seriously. They warned everyone when you came in, and if you were caught with anything “bad,” it was grounds for you to immediately be kicked out.  Before Clementine and Rick had gotten here, even before Daryl and Carl, and Abraham and Maggie and all those guys, someone had been really high and hadn’t realized that two people they were supposed to be watching had turned. Those people had killed so many of the former ASZers, that the vote had gone up to the council unanimously.

 

No alcohol and no drugs, unless given to you by someone on the medical staff. Even then, they were monitored. Closely.

 

Clem knew that Rick really didn’t like these rules. He often said that trying to police people’s free time was just askin’ for trouble, since they weren’t about to do anything to be kicked out, Rick dealed.

 

“Yeah, well when the guys go out on runs, where do you think they store it? Yeah, that’s right. Monroe’s house. There’s a lock, and...” Hector smiled again, waving around a small slip of paper. “I know the combination. Did some recon with my invisibility cloak. Found some really interesting stuff, too. Just thought we might have ourselves a little party, see what we can see.” He adjusted one elf ear and smirked. “Talk about an adventure, right? And here’s the best part- we’re just kids. They’re not gonna do anything to us if we get caught.”

 

That was true.  The unofficial motto of the ASZ was “babies are our business.” By extension, Monroe was often heard saying that children were the most precious resource.

 

“That’s stupid. You want to break into Monroe’s house so you can see what it’s like to get high? Why don’t you just check out on a day pass and go find your own? That stuff is just laying around out there.”  Carl rolled his eyes and put down his pencil.

 

“Well, you don’t have to go of course. Of course... you’ll never find out why Monroe had this...”  Hector flipped over the sheet of paper. Written at the top were a bunch of names, including Clementine Grimes. It had been highlighted, with a date scrawled next to it. Seeing her name in black and white like that caused Clementine to catch her breath sharply.

 

Grimes wasn’t her real last name, of course. She really didn’t have much of a use for her real last name. It made her miss her mom and dad, actually.  Lee had only known her as Clementine, and that had been her name for a long time. But, being a Grimes, even a pretend one, was pretty special. Rick and Daryl, Carl and Judith were everything that Lee and Duck, Kenny and Luke and Bonnie hadn’t been. She belonged here.

 

Carl snatched it out of Hector’s hand. Hector tried to snatch it back, but Carl was intent enough that the knife just sort of materialized in his hand, between the two of them.

 

Clementine sat up straight, reaching out to touch Carl’s arm. His muscles were tight, and she realized he was really, really mad.

 

“Back. Off.” Carl’s voice didn’t even wobble. In the past few weeks it had warbled up high and broke low, but now it was something darker. Focused. “Clem, Michonne is here. So is Maggie, and Sasha. It looks like a list of all the women in the ASZ.”

 

Clementine darted a nervous gaze to Hector, whose eyes had narrowed into mean little slits, and over to Matthew, who was staring at Carl with wide eyes, looking a little frightened.

 

“So are you in or not?” Hector held out his hand impatiently for the sheet of paper. Clementine squeezed Carl’s bicep again and Carl started to relax, looking over at her face and nodding. He handed over the paper, putting the knife away, quickly like Michonne had taught him.  

 

“No- I don’t think so.”

 

All three of them looked at Carl at that.

 

“Just looks like trouble, to be honest. Hey Clem, you ready to go on home? I think dad wanted us there early. Carol ‘n’ Ty are gonna come over later for dinner.”

 

Clem frowned. Carl’s voice had a weird cadence to it. It reminded her of when Rick asked Carl if he’d cleaned his room, and Carl was lying through his teeth. “I... guess. I thought we were gonna play a little longer?”

 

“No. Matt’s done. Right, Matt?”

 

Matt blinked, looking down at the rest of the campaign spread across the scarred dining table. “Uh. Yes?”

 

Carl stood and started towards the garage door.  “We’ll see you later guys. C’mon, Clem.”  

 

A little bewildered, Clem stood and pushed in her chair.  “Oh. Okay... bye guys.”

 

“Bye Clem. Bye Carl.”

 

“Bye guys.”

 

They had made it almost to the sidewalk before Carl stopped short, smacking his forehead. “Oh crap. I forgot something. I’ll just go back and get it. You better go ahead, or Dad’ll be cranky.”

 

Clementine nodded, and Carl turned to run back inside. Under her breath, she whispered, “You must really think I’m an idiot, Carl Grimes.”  She waited until Carl was almost back inside and darted to her left, behind a bush. She’d long ago mastered walking quietly, and it was super simple to open the door to the outside and duck in behind something with a tarp over it.  

 

It was just about like she’d expected.  Carl, Matthew, and Hector were standing in a small circle, talking low.

 

“Monroe is gonna be gone tonight, because he’s on wall watch with my dad. I’ll meet you by the gardens an hour after watch, okay? Whatever you do- Don’t let Clem know. She doesn’t need to be mixed up in this.”

 

“You said she was tough.”

 

“She is, but she’s just a kid. Come on, we can break in, be out, and be home before the watch is over.  Either you’re in or you’re out. Make up your mind,  Hector.”

 

Clem’s eyes narrowed. She tried not to feel betrayed by what she heard, but it was hard. Her hands tightened into fists as she listened to the boys plan, staring so hard at the back of Carl’s head that she was surprised he didn’t feel the weight of it.

 

If that bozo Hector was “in”, then Clementine certainly was.  Clementine listened, and planned, and slowly backed out of her hiding spot, making it home and helping Rick get dinner on the table, completely lost in thought.

 

She wasn’t just some kid, and if Carl was going to suddenly start treating her like she was, then she’d just show him. She’d show all those dumb boys.

* * *

 

**TBC**  
  



	2. Chapter 2

 

The problem with living with two of the most paranoid people on the planet, was that it made sneaking out at night pretty darn difficult. Clementine huffed a breath and adjusted the strap of her backpack so that it wouldn’t thud against the glass.  She was pretty sure if she got caught climbing out of the window, especially after midnight, whatever remained of her short and pathetic life would be extremely brief. Whatever was left after Rick and Daryl got done with her would be given to Michonne... and nope.  She might be in charge of the fairly boring job of tracking and cataloguing household goods, but her katana was still plenty sharp.

 

Clem was _very_ careful as she shimmied down. It wasn’t that hard. There was a trellis that had fairly strong vines on it, left there by the previous owners. From there it was a little hop to the tree that brushed up against the corner of their house, then a few hops down to the ground. Her backpack was light.  Clem had her knife strapped to her, a gun and bullets in the backpack, a bottle of water, and two granola bars. They didn’t like to keep the guns loaded near Judith, and it wasn’t all that hard to load it before sliding it in the back of her jeans, hidden easily by the backpack and her t-shirt.  She also had a flashlight, and experience had taught her never to leave without a first aid pack. If she timed it right... yep. Hector, Matt and Carl were all skulking along the tree line, making enough noise that they could easily be mistaken for a herd of walkers.

 

Clem rolled her eyes heavenward. They were so _stupid_! The quickest way to be noticed was to act like you didn’t belong somewhere. Any moron knew that. Clem shook her head and started along the sidewalk, keeping her flashlight, a solid maglite that would serve as a weapon if she got in a pickle, close. She debated whistling, but thought that might be pushing it.  

 

Carl and his group zigzagged across the compound to Monroe’s house. The leader of their group of survivors had a fairly central location, but it was one of the few houses that had no immediate neighbors. The rest of the living units were a mix of single-family homes, duplexes, and small apartment complexes, jammed together on the few blocks that had been sectioned off as the Alexandria Safe Zone.  Monroe had a yard on all sides, and relative privacy. His building wasn’t lit, but the boys were obvious, peeking in a back window in the light of a street lamp.

 

Clementine sighed. Oh god, they’d even worn black clothing.

 

“ _Hssst!_ ”

 

Hector jumped so high that one of his elf ears fell onto the ground.

 

Carl whirled, his features immediately tightening into something that made Clementine jerk her chin up in reaction. “You complete _jerkface_! I can’t believe you lied to me!” Clementine managed to whisper-yell at Carl, hands on her hips. “You must think I’m completely stupid!”

 

Carl looked eerily like his dad for the brief few minutes that he glared at her.  He’d left his sheriff's hat at home, but he was also about a foot taller than her, so when he looked down, it was faintly intimidating.

 

“Uh, Clementine, I don’t think it had anything to do with your intelligence.” Matt tried a small smile. It looked like it felt weird on his face, but he reached out to touch her hand. “Carl just didn’t want you to get hurt is all.”

 

Clementine glared right back at Carl, refusing to be swayed.  “Yeah. Whatever. You just didn’t want me to help, because you thought I couldn’t do it. You’re always doin’ stuff like that, and it’s really annoying.  I’m not the ones standing in the darn _light_ dressed like wannabe ninjas.” Clem whirled, sucking her teeth in annoyance. “Look, if you guys want in, I can get you in. Follow me.”

 

She didn’t look to see if they were listening to her or not. If they were going to be dumb and get caught, then that was on them. _She_  wanted to know why the heck her name was on that list, and get back to Rick and Daryl so they could take care of the scary stuff. Preferably before they learned that she’d snuck out of the house, past curfew. The curfew was one of the other rules the ASZ took very seriously. Breaking it didn’t get you kicked out like the no contraband rule, but it did result in a loss of privileges.  It was even more frustrating when all of the parental figures agreed- it was a rule you dang well better not break.  Unless you had direct business to be out and about the streets of Alexandria past your allotted curfew (10 for anyone under the age of 16, midnight for all adults unless you were on watch), your behind better be in bed.

 

Clementine sighed.  She didn’t like breaking the rules. Even the stupid ones.

 

She dug in her backpack for her multi tool and the slim jim and her lockpicks. Clem had read a book on famous burglaries, and she had nothing but time with which to practice. Daryl had caught her practicing, and had given her one of those long stares that probably picked up on every, single thought she’d ever had, before taking her out to practice on real doors.  “You get best not be getting into trouble with this,” was all he’d said though. Cars were tricky. They required that you get the slim jim in exactly the right place, and you needed to kind of use enough upper-body strength to get it to pop right. Clementine wasn’t quite tall enough. Doors were easy as pie. As long as it wasn’t a deadbolt, and she had no clue what to do with a combo lock or anything like that, but she liked the precision it took.

 

“What the hell are you doing, Clem?” Hector’s voice sounded as though she’d done something horrible.

 

“You guys wanted in, right? I’m getting you in.” Clem looked back over her shoulder. Matt stood there like a tall, lanky shadow, his face pale in the light, eyes wide.  Hector was glaring again, down at her like he wanted to kick her or something.

 

“Wow. I guess I need to up your lockpick and open doors score. That’s pretty impressive, especially for a ki---uh.  For a gir--- um. For anyone.”  

 

Carl snorted.

 

Clem ignored them all and refocused on the lock in front of her. “So you’re sure you want to do this, right? You guys made sure no one’s in the basement?”

  
Carl nodded. “Yeah. All the lights are off.

 

Most people didn’t keep their doors locked in ASZ, but Clem couldn’t help a certain curiosity. Nine times out of ten, she’d just ask what was going on, or just listen and assume that people would just ignore her in that way that adults always seemed to ignore kids.  But the more she thought about it, the more concerned she was. She wasn’t used to being singled out, and the fact Monroe had her name on that list really bugged her.  If they could catch Monroe with all the contraband in his house, then once they told Rick and Daryl, maybe they could figure it all out.

 

There was a soft click and they all caught their breath.

 

“Okay then!” Hector darted around her so that he could go into into the basement first, and knocked into Clem with his meaty hip, knocking her into the bushes.

 

It would have been stupid to cry out. That would have sent anyone within the block diving for their weapons and looking for the threat.   Clem’s lockpicks went scattering, landing against the concrete stoop with soft little _plinks_.  Fortunately, Clem had landed on her hands and knees instead of landing face-first or something, but it still stung something fierce.

 

“What the fuck is your problem?”  Carl might have been a two years younger than Hector, but he sounded fierce. He didn’t forget to whisper, but the menace in his voice left absolutely no doubt to how furious he was.

 

“It’s fine. Let’s get inside, okay?” Clem picked herself up, touching Carl’s arm.  She put herself between the two, just to be safe. Carl swore again under his breath and Clementine smiled a little wanly.

 

At her touch Carl relaxed, and she turned to look back at him. “You’re sure?”

 

Clementine nodded. Matt brought up the rear after helping her pick up her tools.

 

“Well, let’s go then.”  Hector opened the door and they all slipped inside. It was pitch black once the outside door shut with a muffled click.

 

The rotten smell of death assaulted them immediately. It was so familiar that Clem acted without thinking, before she heard the growl of hunger, yanking Hector back so he fell on top of her.  She was barely aware that she smacked her head against Carl’s from the way he was smushed up behind her. The maglight fell from her hand and rolled down the stairs, stopping against something solid. Hector pressed himself back, away from the walker, and Clementine lost what little breath she had left.  Hector didn’t have time to scream before the walker was on him, teeth snapping and snarling in the muted light from the flashlight. Matthew acted before Clem could get her lungs to work properly, leaning forward and stabbing the walker in the head with one of her lockpick tools. Blood fountained up, spraying Hector with the foul stench. The walker’s body collapsed on top of Hector and all three of them grunted, partially in disgust, and partially in shock of the additional weight.

 

The only sound for a few minutes was the sound of her heart thudding in her ears. She could feel Carl’s pressed up against her back, the backpack between them, and somehow that was strangely calming.

 

“Wh-- Wh---” Hector did a funky sort of push-up, pushing the dead body off his back. It thudded against something. The flashlight only illuminated one small part of the staircase, but there was enough residual light that the four of them could at least see.

 

“Why would there be a walker here in Mr. Douglas’ basement? It’s.. uh. Not Mr. Douglas, is it?”

 

“No. It’s an old one.” Matt’s voice shook a little. Clem turned to see him shaking the walker goo off her tool, and gripping it securely in his palm.

 

Hector ripped off his invisibility cloak and tossed it, frantically wiping the blood off his face in horror with the corner.  Somehow he managed to throw it on top of the maglight, sending them plunging into darkness.

 

“Oh, good job, dumbass.” Carl’s voice was disgusted. They still had several more steps to go before the reached the bottom.

 

“It must have heard us outside.” Matt sounded a little less freaked.

 

“Or smelled the blood from my hand.” Clem’s voice was really quiet as the rest of them stood up again, brushing themselves off and checking for injuries.  “Hector? Are you--”

 

“Fine! I’m fine. Just... let’s get down there, okay?”

 

They walked quietly down the basement stairs, only to be stopped when Hector made grunted, painful sound, then swore quietly under his breath. There was a thud, as though Hector had walked into something solid.

 

“It’s a door. Or a wall.”

 

“That’s weird. Why would there be another door? We only went down fifteen steps or so.” Clem  squeezed herself in between the small space not used by Hector and bent to retrieve her flashlight, clicking it on and covering the end with her hand to mute the light.

 

“Nevermind that- why would someone keep a walker trapped in their basement?”

 

“Pretty effective guard dog.” Clem’s voice was quiet.

 

“Oh yeah, right. Like Mr. Monroe really keeps walkers down here on purpose, Clementine.” Hector made as though to grab the flashlight and Clem gripped it a little tighter, trying to see the door beyond the bulk of Hector’s body.  

 

“It’s... it looks like there’s a doggie door or something.”

 

Carl shook his head, the movement of his hair making little _shuush-shushh_ sounds against the collar of his t-shirt.  “No. It’s a pass-through. They had them at the prison. For like, passing through food and stuff. For the prisoners that were kept isolated.”

 

They were all quiet. Finally, Matthew whispered, nervously.  “Why would Mr. Monroe have a pass-through in his basement?”

 

“Yeah well, not only that but what the hell is behind that door?” Carl looked over Clementine’s shoulder at the door, frowning.

 

“If he’s storing contraband....” Hector frowned stubbornly.

 

“No, Hector. If he’s storing contraband, then there wouldn’t be another door.” Clementine got down on her knees,  wishing that she’d brought another flashlight. “There’s something else down there.”

 

“Clem--!” Carl sounded like he couldn’t believe what she was doing.

 

“None of you can fit. I should be able to, if you hold my backpack.” Clementine handed it to Carl and cast the muted beam of light over the door. There was a simple catch to unlock the small doggie door and she did so, frowning. There wasn’t any locks on this side, so the locks had to be on the other side. She could scoot through and unlock the door, easy peasy.

 

She hoped.

 

“Here.” Clem reached into the waistband of her jeans and handed the gun to Carl. “It’s loaded; safety’s on.”

 

Carl opened his mouth to argue, but Clementine steamrolled over his objections, rolling her eyes a little. “I’ve got my knife. I’m good. And I’ll be right back.” She grinned, pushed her hair out of her face clicked off the flashlight shoving it in the front of her jeans, and wiggled through the door.

 

It was a tight fit, and Clem was pretty sure that she scraped off a yard of skin off her back, but she made it through. She jerked the maglight out of her jeans and covered the end, before flicking it on.

 

“Oh.”

 

“Clem?!” Carl’s voice cracked.

 

It took Clementine a second before she could drag the beam of light away from the center of the basement, and back to the door. Her mind swam with what she’d seen. She felt sick.  “Oh, crap.”

 

The door was latched solidly, and padlocked.

 

“Clem! What?”  Carl sounded frantic.

 

“I need my tools, Matt. Carl, you hush. We’re supposed to be sneaking in, remember?”

 

Clem was kind of glad that she couldn’t see the expression on Carl’s face. Matt thrust the tools through the little door, and Clem went up on her tiptoes to see what she could do. It was a little awkward to hold the maglight with her shoulder and chin, but she managed. There was no way that she could get the padlock off, but the latch was held on by a simple set of screws. One of her tools was a thin phillips head screwdriver.

 

“Hey! What are you kids doing here?”

 

Clem froze before jerking her arms down. There was a thud and a muffled cry on the other side of the door. Her eyes widened, realizing that the three boys had been caught.

 

“That’s the Grimes kid. Shit. You guys better bring them around to the front. Monroe is gonna want to know about this.”

 

Clementine jerked her head around, desperate for somewhere to hide. It was almost too quiet on the steps on the other side of the door.

 

“Hey. You. How many of you are here?” The voices were far away as they moved up towards the basement door.

 

“It’s just us,” Matt said, his voice trembling with fear. There was the meaty sound of a punch, and a cry of pain.

 

“Don’t fuckin’ lie. _Someone_ has to be using that flashlight, kid. You’ve got once chance to tell me who.”

 

Clementine bit her lip hard enough that it almost bled.  Shit! The flashlight! She set it down and tried to be quiet when she backed away.  There were three beds in the basement, with their occupants sleeping deeply. It was easy enough to hide under one, but Clem knew that that wouldn’t fool much of anyone.  Those people that had caught the boys would be looking for her.

 

It was just a matter of time.

  


* * *

**TBC!!**  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	3. Chapter 3

Clem heard the woman on the bed moan and bit her lip again, trying to decide to go to her or to try to hide in a better place.  She had been helping in the medical center when she could, and if there was one thing Clementine knew- was the sound of pain. The moan sounded like the woman was in pain.  There was very little light in the basement, so Clem flicked on the maglight again, figuring that there was no way she wasn’t going to be caught, so she might as well make sure she really did see what she thought she saw.

 

It was worse.

 

The woman was heavily pregnant, and sweating, as though sick. She was asleep, and an IV was taped to her arm. She was also strapped down at the ankles and wrists, and in the beam of the flashlight, Clem could see that the woman had struggled against her bonds, enough that some of her skin had broken and bled through the abrasions.  She quickly cut the light to the next bed.  The girl here was about Matthew’s age, and was also kept strapped down.

 

Had these women done something bad?  Were they sick? What was going on here?

 

Clementine found a jug of water on a table in between  the two women and looked around for a rag.  As she stood there, more and more details of the basement became clear; specifically, the fact that the few windows were either painted over or boarded up, and there were five other empty army cots lay side by side. Clementine shook her head and dabbed the rag in the water, wiping the sweat off the heavily pregnant woman. Clem vaguely recognized her from somewhere. She moaned and her eyes fluttered, rolling under the lids, but didn’t wake up.

 

Clem heard the bootstep a second before the voice barked, “You! Girl, put your hands where I can see ‘em!”

 

Clementine sighed and did as she was told, turning to see how much trouble she was in. Two men with semi-automatics came downstairs, quickly divested her of her knife and flashlight, and grabbing her arm, hauled her upstairs. It hurt. She didn’t want to make them any angrier though, and didn’t struggle. It wasn’t easy. Rick had shown her self-defense moves, and the guy squeezing the life out of her arm was seconds away from getting punched in the boy... stuff.

 

“Kid, I wish you hadn’t seen that,” one muttered.  Clementine didn’t know his name, but she recognized him from trading with Michonne. He had been one of the few to escape the sickness that had taken down most of the ASZers. Clementine had seen him with Monroe several times at dinner, or during movie night. “Shit,” he muttered under his breath, sounding disgusted. There were several more steps to get back to the first floor, and Clem emerged into the light of the room, blinking rapidly as her eyes adjusted to the light.

 

“Shit. It’s both of them?”

 

“Yeah. That squirrely kid too, like he said.”

 

“He didn’t say _she’d_ be here. Shit!”

 

Clem looked around, trying to hide her nervousness. Carl and Hector were standing in the living room, both divested of weapons. To her shock, Matthew stood near the two men, holding Clem’s gun.  It was pointed at Carl and Hector’s feet.  His gaze darted to Clem’s briefly before back to the floor.  She didn’t understand why....

 

“Go on. Over there.” The man holding her arm gave her a shove, and Clem was so shocked by the fact that Matthew wasn’t being held like Carl and Hector that she stumbled, barking her shin against the corner of the coffee table.  She fell, crashing into Hector, eyes coming to rest directly on the skin of his side.

 

“Oh no.” Clem’s whisper was sad. She shut her eyes.

 

Hector jerked away from her, jabbing her hard in the side with his elbow.  “Shut up!”

 

Clem’s eyes snapped open, meeting Carl’s gaze. Carl’s blue gaze, her own eyes wide. “He’s...”

 

“I said shut _up_!” Hector backhanded her, catching Clem right under the eye. Clem saw stars and tried to step away from Hector.  The last time she’d been hurt like that was when Carver had... but no. Clementine didn’t like to think about that.  Both Carl and the men with guns sprang forward when Hector hurt her, Carl putting himself in between the two of them and one of the men pushing Hector away. Carl tilted Clementine’s head up so that he could see her eye.  The other man went for Hector, pushing him down on his stomach and looking at the almost perfectly formed bite on his side with dismay.

 

“Shit. Shit, shit _shit_. Monroe ain’t gonna like this.”

 

The man on the left didn’t speak, instead pulling Hector up and muscling him outside.  He handed his gun to Matthew, who was staring at Hector with his eyes almost bugging out, as though he’d never seen anyone bitten before.  

 

Hector very obviously didn’t want to go. Clem didn’t blame him. Being separated couldn’t possibly be a good thing.  She and Carl stood there, shoulder to shoulder, neither of them speaking.

 

The man hit Hector in the back of the head with his pistol, and Hector responded with a low, terrified, pain-filled groan.

 

“What are you--?”

 

“Best be quiet girly. You don’t want anymore trouble.” She watched as the man who had been rough with her while going up the stairs pushed Hector out a side door that obviously led to a garage.

 

“Listen, we’re really sorry, okay? Can’t we just go home? We won’t tell anyone that Mr. Monroe had a walker in his basement.” Carl’s voice was higher than normal, tense with worry.

 

“See that would almost work, but your sister there saw...”

 

“I’m not his sister.”

 

“She’s not my sister.”

 

Clementine and Carl both spoke at the same time. She turned to look at Carl, wondering if the same frown was on her face.

 

“Right.” The man pinched his nose, frowning. “God _damn_ it.”

 

From the garage there was a muffled pop  of sound that echoed in the concrete space and Carl’s head turned towards it as though in reflex, his eyes widening.  Clem knew that sound. Clem was all too familiar with that sound.  A silencer.

 

She felt her tummy go all weird, and wanted to reach out for Carl’s hand.  She hadn’t really liked Hector, but having him killed just like that was still jarring, even after all this time.  

 

Hector’s killer came back inside, shoving the pistol in his jeans. “Monroe’s not gonna want his operation to get back to either the Sheriff or his little boyfriend. So, guess it’s sad times. You and your friend here are gonna have to disappear.” His hand drifted down on the butt of the silenced gun.

 

Clementine couldn’t help the small, scared sound she made. Carl went rigid next to her.

 

The man turned to Matthew. “You’ve been wanting in on this for months, so here’s your chance. Think you can take care of this... issue? Pop ‘em in the  garage, put ‘em in the truck, drive it out to where the fuck ever, and witnesses are gone, Monroe’s none the wiser, we sleep pretty at night.”

 

“Ye--” Matt cleared his throat. “Yeah. I can do it. But not here.”  He slid off his backpack and fumbled in it for a second, coming up with some duct tape. He tossed it to Carl, who was almost trembling now, so furious that he couldn’t even speak. Clementine pressed her shoulder into his, not sure how she could help, but knowing that if Carl gave these guys a reason to shoot them, they would and sleep just fine after.

 

“Tie her up. Make sure it’s tight. Get her mouth too. You do anything stupid, and we’ll do her right here.”  

 

Clementine was horribly afraid she was going to throw up. Or cry.

 

Clementine’s chin wobbled for a second before she bit the inside of her cheek, hard,so that she wouldn’t start blubbering like a baby. This was bad. _This was so, so bad_. The tape’s ripping sound was loud in the quiet room. Carl put it on her mouth, pressing it down gently, as an afterthought.  He did his own mouth and Clem meekly held out her hands for Carl to secure, feeling her hands tremble. _So_ _bad_.

 

Matt came over and yanked the tape out of Carl’s hands.  Clem glared at him as he tied up Carl’s wrists.  “Oh- okay you guys. You heard him. Out to the garage.”  His voice had lowered, his shoulders straightened. Clementine couldn’t believe this was the shy, quiet guy who had helped her figure out how to play that stupid make-believe game. She wished she  _was_  able to whip out a sword! He pushed Carl’s shoulder and Carl managed to look back at her one last time before walking towards the side of the room where the garage was located.  His face was so pale; Clementine was afraid he’d faint.  She followed him as quickly as she could, feeling the hot tears slip down her cheeks. They tasted salty in the back of her throat.

 

The last time she’d been this scared was when she was afraid Rick was dead.

 

Matthew shoved her shoulder, but lightly enough that she wouldn’t trip. Carl opened the garage door and they walked into the dark space.   There was a click, and then the beam of her flashlight lightened up the small space.  Clementine hadn’t been in many garages in her life.  Before she’d met Lee, the garage had been the shadowy, kind of scary place. In all her travels, garages were sometimes places of refuge, or so dangerous that she avoided them on principle.

 

Clementine gagged at the sight of Hector sprawled in the bed of the truck. He’d obviously been shot from behind, and his body had either fallen, or been pushed into it so they could clean up easier. It was somehow even sadder that the guy who’d shot him had just wrapped Hector’s body in his invisibility cloak.  Clementine gulped, then started when Matthew shoved her shoulder again.

 

“Okay, you guys stand right there. By the end."  Carl started screaming something behind his tape, something muffled and furious. Clementine felt like she was going to vomit. Or pass out. She was trembling so hard she looked like she was shivering in place, her teeth clacking behind the tape on her mouth.  Carl stopped moving, turning back and looking at Matt over his shoulder. He was crying, and still shouting something, shaking his head and pulling at the tape around his wrists.

 

“Get in the truck, Clem. Or...”  Matt’s voice wavered, but the gun between her shoulderblades was clear enough.  Clem was horribly afraid she was going to mess in her pants, like a baby.

 

Carl went even crazier at this, trying to turn himself back onto Matthew, like he could stop this somehow.

 

“Come on now. Hurry!”  

 

Clem sobbed behind the tape and braced herself with one arm, climbing into the bed of the truck so awkwardly that she fell over.  Hector’s blood was sticky and cold where it soaked into her jeans.  

 

The sound of the two pops were loud in the echoing garage, and Clementine froze, turning so she could see.  She wasn’t shot. Matthew hadn’t....

 

To her absolute shock, she saw Matthew throwing a still-fighting Carl into the bed of the truck with her. Carl fell almost on top of her, and rolled immediately to his side. Clem heard the sound of bed of the truck being put up and locked into place, and her heart hammered crazily as Carl moved next to her.  If Carl was hurt, it wasn’t bad. Not shot-in-the-head-like-Hector bad. Clem could feel his heart thudding crazily next to her and she pressed closer, still confused, but feeling almost pathetically grateful that Carl was here with her.

 

They both froze in place as Matthew covered them and Hector with a tarp. The tarp smelled horrible, and Clementine felt her stomach lurch again.  There was a grinding sound of a garage door opening, then the truck moved as Matthew’s weight sat down. The truck’s engine turned over, and it slowly began to dawn on her that Matthew had gone against those two guys’ demands, instead helping them to escape rather than killing them and disposing of their bodies.

 

Clementine couldn’t help the way she burst into relieved tears, trying to keep herself quiet. Carl’s head moved against her and it struck Clem then that he was just as scared as her.  She didn’t know what was happening, or where Matthew was taking them, but knew that as long as Carl was with her they had a fighting chance.  

 

**TBC!**

 


	4. Chapter 4

The truck slowed down. Clem had heard Carol talk about being in shock, and wondered dimly if this was it. If she were smart, she’d jump up, make some noise, do _something_.  The image of Carl with a gun to his head was very vivid in her mind. Clementine didn’t want to do anything that would set Matt off. Brakes squeaked, sending them flying forward.

 

“”Hey, man, pretty late to be out.” The woman’s voice was low. When Clementine had come in with Rick, there had been several people that had checked out their vehicle. She froze, suddenly very afraid. Next to her, Carl tensed as well. Clem desperately tried to stifle her sobs, but it was really hard to stay quiet when everything in her wanted to holler for help.

 

“Yeah. On a job for the big man.”

 

“Oh. Alright then. I’ll just note it in the log.” The scraping, clanging sound of the gates proved it: Matthew was definitely taking them outside of the ASZ.

 

Carl’s face moved against Clem’s shoulder again, and it dawned on her that he was scraping the duct tape off of his mouth.

 

Oh jeez. Here she was blubbering like an idiot, and Carl was trying to get them out of here. Clementine got ahold of herself, and sucked in air. It was starting to get hot under the tarp.  She tried moving her mouth, but the tape was still on pretty solidly. Carl had done a really good job dang him. She poked at it with her tongue, but her mouth was so dry it just tasted even worse.  Clem knew that she had enough tears and snot to eventually get the tape off her mouth. The trouble was- she just didn’t know how much longer she had before the truck stopped.

 

“Clem?”

 

Carl’s whisper made Clementine press against him again. She nodded her head a little frantically. She used her other shoulder to wipe her face, but the tape was still stuck on too well.

 

“Oh fuck. Oh my god, you’re okay? He didn’t shoot you?” Carl’s whisper was barely a breath of sound, and Clem shook her head, wishing she could hug him.

 

“Okay, uh I’m going to try to get the tape off your mouth.”

 

How was-- _oh_. Clementine froze again, feeling her face turn almost painfully hot as Carl’s mouth bumped against her cheek in the dark.  

“Sorry!” His hiss seemed full of all the awkwardness she was feeling. She felt the truck speed up, and a bump on the highway sent both of their heads knocking together painfully.  Carl grunted and tried again, catching the corner of part of the tape with his teeth. It was a little weird, and a little gross. Carl’s lips were soft, his breath hot against her skin, but there was a definite trail of drool against her when he worked the corner up with this teeth.

 

Clem thought she was going to burst into hysterical giggles.  Figures. She finally got a kiss from a boy, and it was while they were tied up and next to a dead body.  It was a very, very weird thought to put both “Carl” and “kiss” in the same thought, but now she couldn’t seem to stop thinking about it.  

 

“Okay, I’m just gonna yank.”

 

Clementine nodded, and winced when Carl yanked with his teeth. It felt like he took half her skin with it, but it worked. The movement caused Carl to flop over onto her legs.  He wiggled, and for one crazy second Clem thought he was playing Judith’s tickle game, until it dawned on her that he had turned around, moving up against the top of the truck bed so that she could get her mouth near the tape on his wrists.

 

Oh.

 

Maybe Carl _was_  the smart one.

 

“I think we’re on the main road still. Man, my dad is gonna go crazy when he finds out about this.”  

 

“I’m kind of looking forward to that, actually,” Clem whispered, bending forward to gnaw at the tape with her teeth. She was very aware of the way Carl’s hands bumped against her face as she worked, and tried to go as quickly as she could, but the tape was very thick and it was an awkward angle.

 

“You got it?” Carl’s whisper was a bare breath of sound.

 

“No, dang it. I’m going as fast as I can.”

 

Carl helped by stretching his hands in the tape and when it finally gave, he ended up bopping her in the nose.

 

Clem wiggled so her back was to Carl and he got her hands.  Since Carl was able to work with his hands, it went much more quickly, but still it took a good while before her hands were free. As soon as she could, Clem threw her arms around Carl.  

 

“How long you think he’s been driving?” Clem spoke quietly, relieved that Carl’s arms were wrapped just as tightly around her.

 

“Maybe a hour? Not sure.” Carl’s voice cracked, and Clem fought a grin. He hated it when she made fun of his voice.

 

Clementine thought it was probably closer to an hour and a half, but she wasn’t going to say anything. It’s not like it mattered. An hour in a truck was a lot of time in the dark, and they had no idea what time it was. It felt like it had been hours and hours since she had shimmied down the trellis on Rick and Daryl’s house.

 

“Clem, we can’t trust him. We gotta get out of here.”

 

Clem cocked her head. She was pretty sure that Carl knew they were in a moving truck, given the fact that they had just discussed it, but he was sounding dumb again.  “Carl--”

 

“Look. It’s easy as anythin’. We just wait for him to slow down and hop out the back.”

 

Clem’s eyes narrowed. “Carl Grimes what kind of damnfool nonsense are you saying?”

 

“Shhh!” Carl’s hand fell across her mouth to shush her, and Clem only thought of biting him for a second. “Wow, you said damn. I’m not sure if I’m impressed or scared.”

 

Clem glared. She was beginning to get a hint of what Daryl felt when Rick came up with one of his ideas.

 

“We don’t got a choice. Hector.... Hector is what they plan on doin’ to us Clem. I don’t know why he’s takin’ us so far out, but it can’t be good. You know that.” He took his hand away.

 

Clem frowned in the dark. Crap. Crapity Crap. Carl was right. If they got out of the truck, then they had a shot. She was no dummy. Carl... okay. Carl wasn’t a dummy either. They could figure out how to get back to Alexandria, and they could figure out what to do once they told Rick and Daryl. And Michonne. And Carol.  

 

That Monroe guy was gonna regret ever keeping those poor women locked up like that.

 

“Okay.”

 

Carl moved to the back of the truck. Clem tried not to notice that Hector’s blood was thick and kind of slimy as she got carefully up to a crouch, mimicking Carl’s movement.  He opened up the tarp and the blast of cool, night air was like a punch. Clem sucked in a grateful breath. She couldn’t tell where they were. Her eyes had adjusted to the dark,  and the taillights cast a faint, red glow over some stuff, but to her, everything just looked like indistinct dark blurs.

 

She bit her lip. If they landed wrong, they could crack their skull open, or land bad on a vehicle, or on ohmigod a _walker_ and-- no. No, they didn’t have a choice.  They had to make this work before anything else bad happened.

 

They felt the truck slow down, and Matt’s cursing. He didn’t sound at all like the kind of shy DM they’d had before. It had been easy to think of him as a kid, like them, but he wasn’t really. It had been awhile since someone had taken advantage of her like that. Not since the cabin... and. And...

 

“You ready?”

 

Clem shook her head, forcing the memories back. Michonne said the bad stuff in your head was gonna come out, but that you had to control the when and the where.  This was not the time. Clem took a deep, shaky breath and braced herself against the plastic-covered metal of the bed of the truck.

 

“Fuckin’ idiots. James was supposed to have cleared this a week ago!” Matthew’s shout caused Clem to flinch. They were going about as slow as they could expect, the movement of the truck proof enough that Matthew was trying to swerve around something that was blocking his path on the highway.

 

“Now!” Carl’s hiss startled her, even though she had been expecting it. Carl stood halfway- lifting up their end of the tarp. Clem tried to move as quickly as she could, but her sneaker got caught on something and it caused her to lose her balance. Instead of jumping neatly down, like Carl, Clementine fell heavily on her ankle, catching herself with her palms, scraping them raw on the pavement.

 

“Ow!”  Bright, burning pain flared up her ankle, shocking her breathless with its suddenness.

 

Her cry caused the truck to stop, brake lights flashing.

 

“Shit! Come on! Come _on_!” Carl yanked on her hand and Clementine gasped, tears springing to her eyes as she lurched painfully up to her feet.

 

Carl half pulled, half dragged her into the treeline of the woods.  They hit the line of trees and stumbled a bit in the dark. It was a bit like thinking there was an extra step on a staircase, and Clem almost fell again when her center of gravity lurched forward with the lower incline than the pavement of the highway.  She righted herself by flinging out her arms, and they took off running.

Adrenaline gave her energy, although her ankle hurt terribly whenever she put her full weight on it. Clem heard the slam of a car door, and Matthew’s furious yell.

 

“You stupid shits! I was going to drop you somewhere safe! Come on, this area isn’t clear. Get back in the truck!”

 

They were clumping through the dead leaves like a herd of something. It was impossible to be quiet, but they tried.  Daryl had left his mark on both of them, and with a bit of distance, they could take care where they placed their feet.  Clem had a deathgrip on Carl’s hand, and he one just as painful on her waist, helping her hop awkwardly around fallen trunks and branches.

 

Off to her left, Clementine saw something ghostly pale and what was left of her breath left her as Carl swung her around, slamming her up against a large tree. He covered her with as much of his body as he could, pressing her painfully into the bark.

 

She was agonizingly aware of the fresh blood on her hands from her fall to the pavement, and the skin she had scraped using the pass through on the door in the basement.  

 

The walker didn’t even notice them, heading straight for the sound of Matthew crashing through the woods behind them, still yelling for them to please, please get back in the truck.

 

Clem  heard herself make a small sound when Matt’s angry yell turned into a surprised shout, then a terrified scream.  There was a gunshot and then the terrible, terrible sound of something feeding.  The two of them stood there and listened to Matthew’s desperate cries as the walker ate him, until the cries eventually stopped. The sound of feeding was loud in the quiet night.

 

Clem shuddered, and Carl left her for a second to bend down and pick up something from the ground.

 

“You don’t move. I mean it.” Carl’s glare was visible in the light from the moon, and Clementine nodded. She would only slow him down. She had the horrible mental image of a wounded deer limping past a bunch of hungry hyenas, and shivered. Carl tipped up her chin.  He bent forward a little and Clem felt herself go that weird sort of too hot again.  “I’m gonna get his gun. You take this.” He handed her what he picked up. It wasn’t much. A thick stick with a broken-off end, but it was better than her bare hands.

 

“Okay.” Her voice shook a little and Clem tightened her grip on the stick. She didn’t know how many of the dead were out there. It seemed a little too lucky to only have one walker attracted to all the noise. The gunshot would have gotten the attention of others and... Clem forced herself to stop and take a deep breath. She nodded, and Carl was off like an almost silent shadow.

 

Clementine squeezed her eyes shut, then opened them, hoping that her night-vision wouldn’t be too messed up by the moon. It occurred to her that this was the first time she’d been on the outside since she and Rick had found the ASZ.  It was the first time she’d been alone in a very long time. Everything seemed a little scarier, a little more dangerous.  From far off, she heard a muffled thump, and a splat, and smiled a little to herself.  Carl  must have gotten the walker. Sure enough, a few minutes later, Carl made just enough noise that she wouldn’t brain him in the dark, and they smiled at each other.

 

“I got your flashlight back. And a knife. And the gun.”

 

“I’ll take the knife. You better take the gun. You’re a better shot than I am.”  

 

“Okay. I want to get back to the truck, before any more of those things find us. You think you can make it back?”

 

“I made it here, didn’t I?” Clem’s hand went to her head to push back her hat before she remembered that she wasn’t wearing it.

 

“Yeah. You sure did.” Carl’s flash of a grin did funny things to Clementine’s tummy. It struck her then that he was really kind of cute... in an annoying boy sort of way.  

 

“Come on then. I’ll help you again, but we gotta go quickly.” As if to punctuate Carl’s statement, there was the sound of a tree branch snapping from behind them.

 

“Ready?”

 

Clem nodded.  

 

“Let’s go!”

 

Carl grabbed her hand again, and off they went.

  


TBC!

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to **Foxy K** for the beta!!


	5. Chapter 5

**Roughly twelve hours earlier....**

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In all the time they’d known each other, Rick had been privy to all of Daryl’s moods. He’d seen pissed off, furiously pissed off, and homicidally pissed off. He’d seen Daryl so overcome with emotion that he shut down and walked off by himself to process everything. Recently (so recently that it still sometimes seemed like it was happening to somebody else) he’d seen Daryl by turns so tender and so passionate that it was hard to believe that it was the same person making love with him.  

 

But Rick didn’t think he’d ever seen this before.  He’d heard the squeak of the floorboard behind him and had turned, expecting to see Carl or Clem. It had been Daryl, and the expression on his face left Rick cold. For only a second, there had been an absolutely gutted, agonized look look of such pain it had made Rick’s stomach clench.  It had been gone in less than a blink- a careful look of blankness that sent off alarm bells in Rick’s head.

 

“Hey. Talk to me.”

 

Daryl swallowed so hard that his throat clicked. “Naw. It’s fine. My own fault for eavesdroppin’. ‘Scuse me, I’m supposed to meet up--”

 

Rick reached out and cupped Daryl’s elbow. Daryl’s muscles were so tense that Rick was afraid he’d strain something. Daryl jerked his elbow free and Rick was so shocked that he took a step back, his hands coming up in front of him, placating.  

 

“I want to explain.”

 

Daryl snorted. “Nuthin’ to explain. You want to fuck someone and have more babies. Play Adam t’ someone’s Eve.” He shrugged. “It’s fine. I get it.” Daryl’s smile was perfectly calm and utterly fake.  “I gotta go.” Daryl moved to Rick’s left, as though he was going to push through the small doorway on his way to the foyer, and when Rick shifted his weight to block him, Daryl simply turned around and started walking towards the back door of their house.  Rick didn’t miss the way Daryl’s fists were clenched.

 

Seeing Daryl walking away from him spurred Rick into action. He didn’t even stop to think about it; springing forward and sweeping Daryl in a controlled take-down.  Daryl’s crossbow went skittering across the floor, crashing into  and knocking over a lamp. Rick actually reached for his handcuffs before he realized that he didn’t have them.

 

“What the _f_ _uck!_ f?”  

 

Daryl bucked under Rick trying to throw him off and Rick again acted without thinking, forcing Daryl’s wrists to the floor and holding him with his weight on Daryl’s back legs.  Adrenaline had spiked so quickly that Rick was dizzy with a sudden, sharp fear that if he didn’t explain himself _right the fuck now_ they’d go back to that shitty, broken place where everything they’d said had been wrong and misconstrued because they, as Michonne often said, ‘couldn’t use their damn words.’

 

“Wait. _Wait_ , damnit. “

 

Daryl stopped bucking, but Rick wasn’t dumb enough to let his guard down. With all the coiled strength in Daryl’s wiry frame it would have been a completely stupid mistake.

 

Rick took a shaky breath, bending over Daryl’s body so his mouth was near Daryl’s ear. He knew if Daryl decided to snap his head back, Rick’s nose would be broken sure as he was kneeling here, but he had to make sure Daryl heard him.

 

“Two of ‘em came to me, to explain to me that our ‘unnatural union’ needed to produce offspring if we were gonna stay here unmolested. _Unmolested_ , that’s the word he used.” Hearing it again in Rick’s  head didn’t lessen the sick fury he felt at the smug look on Monroe’s face.  “I almost decked the fucker, man. Made me wish I still had my cast. If you think I wasn’t gonna hear ‘em out after they just threatened you. Threatened my family then you’re one stupid motherfucker.”

 

“Hey. You leave my mama outta this.”

 

The joke was weak, but Rick snorted, relaxing and easing his hold up on Daryl so the other man could turn over. Instead of getting up and storming off, or even getting up and finding a chair, Daryl just lay there under Rick’s hips, staring up at him with his eyebrow raised, waiting for Rick to go on.

 

Rick licked his lips a little nervously and continued. “They were... earnest. Like they knew they had t’convince me. Said since I had three already it wasn’t imperative, but they wanted to let me know that you would have to ... impregnate someone if you wanted to stay here.” Rick felt his voice go gravelly with fury at even the imagined idea of Daryl touching someone else. “What you heard was me sayin’ whatever the fuck I had to say to get them out of our house.”

 

“Oh come on! _Gross_!” Carl’s disgust was almost palpable. He stood there holding the book and bag of dice, Clem next to him in the doorway, hands folded over her mouth. It was pretty obvious that she was laughing. “You said I didn’t have to see that shit.”

 

“Watch yer mouth, kid.”  Daryl tapped Rick’s hip to let him all the way up, and he did, meeting Daryl’s gaze with a ‘we’ll continue this later’ stare.  

 

Rick stood up, ignoring his knees cracking and helped up Daryl. Daryl’s face had switched to the thoughtful look he had and Rick knew that Daryl had believed him. Which was a good thing, considering the fact that Rick didn’t know what the fuck he’d do if Daryl had decided to keep on walking out.

 

“I do gotta go. I’ve got watch til eleven. Bye.” He leaned forward and grabbed Rick’s chin, holding him in place while he took his mouth, kissing him so thoroughly that Rick had no doubts whatsoever that there would definitely be things to discuss. Later.  Carl rolled his eyes and took off upstairs, his feet pounding like a herd of damn elephants. “Bye kid.”

 

“Bye Daryl. Be careful.” Clem walked to the back of the house where they’d set up a playpen for Judith. Daryl kissed Rick one more time on the lips before leaving.  Rick shook his head. They had a helluva lot to discuss, but it wouldn’t do to talk about it in front of the kids. Last thing they needed was to get involved.

 

“Hey. How’d the game go?”

 

Clem shrugged. “Fine. Did you need me to help with dinner?”

 

Rick ran his hands through his curly hair, rubbing briskly. Sometimes shit happened so fast he wasn’t quite sure how the hell he managed to keep up.  “That’d be nice. I used one of the ration cards for some fresh veggies from the community farm, and Daryl bagged a few squirrels. Stew okay?”

 

Clem turned towards him, rubbing her face in Judith’s fuzzy hair, inhaling the sweet baby scent.  Rick was shocked to see that her eyes were wet, as though she were holding back tears.  He stepped forward concerned, holding out his arm and wrapping it around her shoulders.  

 

“Hey. Hey baby girl. What’s wrong?”

 

She sniffed wetly and leaned into his side for just a moment. “Boys are just really dumb.”

 

Rick winced, wondering what in the hell Carl had done now. “Well, don’t worry. _I’m_ not dumb. I won’t even make you clean the squirrels.”

 

Clem sighed and stepped back.  “I can clean a squirrel better than you can.”

 

Rick raised an eyebrow, smirking a little. “Oh yeah?”

 

Clem’s chin jutted out, a matching smirk on her face. “Hell yeah. One squirrel each. Shortest time, cleanest... clean and Michonne decides whose is better.”

 

Michonne had a standing invite to come over for supper.  Rick glanced at the clock on the mantel. In fact, she’d be here in just about twenty minutes. They wouldn’t eat for hours yet, but Michonne usually made it her habit to hang out if she wasn’t working or on watch. They all knew it was just a matter of time before the adults were expected to go out on runs. Rick figured she looked on this about like he did: a vacation or sorts before they got back to real life.

 

“Uh huh. You get things set up, get Judith squared away, and I’ll go wash up.” He also wanted to check on Carl real quick to make sure it was just normal moodiness and not something darker that had sent him pounding up the stairs.

 

“Sure thing, Rick.”

 

Clem made her way into the kitchen and Rick jogged up the stairs after his son, pinching his nose. Jesus. He knew this place was too good to be true, but it wasn’t like they could force him... or Daryl... to have sex with someone. And if they did think that, then well.

 

They had one helluva shock in front of them.

 

 

 

TBC

 

 

(AN: sorry it's a short chapter. Nothing else would work in here that wouldn't screw up the ending. Bah. I tried to keep each chapter around 2k. *sobs*  Also, my posting schedule might be a tad bit of in the next two weeks, but it should be one chapter every few days 'til it's done.<3)

 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **A/N: This part involves some backstory for Clem. Some is from the game, and some is completely made up. :) It will, however give away one of the endings of Season Two between this chapter and the next.**

 

They managed to make it back to the truck without any incidents. Carl must have steered her away from Matthew’s dead body and the walker Carl had killed, because Clem didn’t see anything gross. She kept a careful eye on the woods around her, trying to help at least that much. Her ankle had stiffened horribly, and she was down to awkward little hops, with her arm wrapped around Carl’s waist, and his arm clutching her shoulders, knife clutched in her other hand. Lee would be mad at her for her terrible knife safety, but she didn’t have much choice.

 

The truck was in the middle of the road, lights still on, engine still running.

 

Clem and Carl staggered up the final incline. Clem stopped short when she saw what awaited them in the bed of the truck.  Matthew must have ripped aside the tarp in his haste to look for them, because it lay partially covering just a small bit of the truck’s bed, the bulk of it laying on the pavement.  Hector lay there, still covered in blood, staring blankly up at the sky.  

 

“I’m... surprised that I’m still upset. I mean, we see dead bodies all the time. And it’s not like I knew him well.” Carl’s voice was low and Clem looked over at him. Carl itched his forehead and shrugged. “We should probably find a place to bury him. It’s not a good idea to keep a fresh body around, you know?”

 

Clem nodded. “What are we gonna bury him with?”

 

“Crap.” Carl looked around the truck, like he expected to see a shovel just there waiting. They had gotten so used to carrying a shovel with them that its absence was strangely jarring.

 

“Well, a shallow grave is better than no grave at all, right? It’s rained recently enough that we should be able to manage if we both hurry.”  He went around the front and shut off the lights, and the engine, pocketing the keys.

 

Clem bit her lip. She didn’t much _want_ to kneel on the side of the road, in the middle of the darn night, burying a kid that was kind of a jerkface (although she felt guilty for his death nonetheless), hoping that a walker didn’t wander over for a snack, but she also knew that there was no way she was going to hop into that truck with a dead body in it either. Driving back to the ASZ would be like driving a food truck through a busy street corner.

 

Clem vaguely remembered food trucks. There had been a bunch of them that had set up near the neighborhood park every other Sunday. The memory of swinging between her parents’ hands as the three of them walked from truck to truck was so startling that it was like a punch to the tummy. She was surprised at the dry, prickly feeling of tears behind her eyes. That was like a movie; something that happened to someone else. That wasn’t her life anymore, and remembering it didn’t do any good.

 

“Clem?”

 

Clem blinked hard so that the stupid tears went away. “Yeah. You’re right. We better get him in the ground. Sticks?”

 

“Yeah. And probably use your knife or the butt of the flashlight. One of us watches, one digs, then switch?”

 

Clem nodded and shuffled off to the area behind the truck, pointedly going on the _other_ side from where Matthew died. There was a guard rail that looked rusty so she was careful as she balanced on it to step over. She must have made a face, because Carl grunted behind her.   He sounded just like Rick, a sort of higher-pitched ‘hmmhm.’

 

“Your ankle bad?”

 

“Not too bad,” Clem lied. She tucked a strand of hair around her ear and tried a smile that she wasn’t even sure if Carl could see. She bent down before Carl could start in. She went as quickly as she could, ignoring the dirt under her fingernails. She froze once when a twig snapped near her and just about peed herself when Carl said ‘aw damn. Wait a sec’ and turned to  get the walker that had shambled up next to the guard rail, but otherwise it went fairly smoothly.

 

It took the both of them to heave the body of Hector out of the bed of the truck and into the shallow grave.

 

“Think we should say something?”  Carl sounded a little awkward.

 

“He didn’t have parents at ASZ, and all I knew about him is that he really liked to game.”

 

Carl’s shoulders slumped. “Yeah. It was dumb of me to take him to Monroe’s house tonight.” His voice was quiet, even in the dark night.

 

“We better cover him up.” Clem wanted to reach out to Carl, but didn’t know if it was okay to do that or not. “Do you think we can use the tarp?”

 

“Yeah. It’s pretty big. I can just cut off the bloody part.”

 

Clem nodded and bent to start moving the dirt over Hector’s body. It was sad, but it was hardly the first person she’d buried, and figured that he was lucky enough that they’d been able to bury him at all. Lots of people hadn’t gotten that respect just because they had had to thinking about the living before they buried their dead properly. It sucked, but that was how it was.

 

“You’re limping. Go sit in the cab and I’ll finish up here.”

 

Clem was so tired that everything ached. She wanted nothing more to do what Carl had said, but that would leave him with no one to watch his back.

 

“Sorry, no. We can finish together. I’m not leavin’ you alone.”

 

Carl sighed but didn’t argue, so Clem counted it as a win.  Fifteen minutes later had them both sitting in the cab of the truck with the doors locked and the windows rolled up almost all the way, so they could breathe. Carl had tried to clean up Hector’s blood in the back, but in the end they had used Clem’s idea of covering up Hector’s scents with Walker blood, which was gross but necessary.

 

“Now what?”

 

“I uh, don’t think it’s a good idea to try to drive this in the dark.”

 

Carl was silent for a long time.

 

“You do know how to drive this, right?”

 

“Not...Exactly... I mean I think I can figure it out. But it’s a stick shift.”

 

“Oh! Rick taught me how to do that. But... yeah.” Clem blinked as a mini-movie of everything that could possibly go wrong with the two of them driving in the dark flashed through her mind. “You’re right. We can wait for daylight.”

 

“Dad taught you how to drive a stick?”

 

“Well, sort of. It was while we were ... away. His arm was busted up and I had to do the shifting. He just pushed that pedal there when the engine made a _grrrrnnnt_  sound and... wait. No. it wasn’t recently or anything. He’s been busy moving into the house Daryl found and all.”

 

Carl sighed.  “My dad is gonna kill me when he finds out I snuck out.” He made a face. “It could be worse. Michonne could know.”

 

“What makes you think she won’t?”

 

Carl groaned. “Shit.” He blinked and rubbed his eyes. “Well, if we’re not going to try to go in the truck, and if your ankle is too sore- you should really take off your sneaker or something- then I’m going to cover the windows with the tarp so that nothing can see us.” He got out quickly. “It’ll just take a sec. Will you stay put?”

 

Clem sighed. “I’ll help.”

 

Carl made a disgusted sound and got out of the truck, slamming the door. Clem winced, then started to get a little mad. Carl was acting like an idiot. He might be mad but there was no way she wasn’t going to help, not when it was just him out there.  She went for the door handle, but the muffled sound of the tarp being thrown over her door stopped her. She heard Carl’s feet walking around, but couldn’t see him by the way the tarp was over the windshield. There was the sound of it crinkling, then Carl ducked under it to open the door and shut it again, much more quietly, with the edge of the tarp on the inside so it wouldn’t blow away.

 

Seething by now, Clementine arranged her own door so the edge of the tarp was inside and shut her  door much more quietly.  With the tarp, it was almost completely dark in the cab of the truck. It covered both the front windshield and the back windows.

 

Pointedly not talking to him, Clem untied her sneaker, and sucked in a sharp breath when she pulled off her sock. She did the same to the other, and pulled her feet up onto the bench seat, curling against the window.

 

Her tears were more from exhaustion and everything that had happened then anything else, but she refused to let Carl know she was crying, or that he’d hurt her feelings by not letting her help.

 

“Why won’t you _listen_ to me?!” Carl’s outburst was loud in the quiet truck, even with him speaking only in a furious whisper. “I keep trying to keep you safe and all you do is---”

 

Clementine wiped her eyes and interrupted. “Why should I listen to you? You’re not the boss of me. You keep treating me like I’m some dumb kid! What do you know about me before I met you guys in Atlanta? Nothing! But _you_ seem to think that it’s okay to just run into trouble without me to watch your back!”  She blinked, realizing that her night vision was clear enough that she could see Carl frowning at her from the driver’s side.  

 

“I’m just trying to keep you safe! To protect you!”

 

Clem threw up her hands. “And I’m doing the same thing for you, dummy!”

 

“But-”

 

“And so help me god if you say that it’s different because you’re a boy and I’m a girl, then I’ll--”

 

Carl snorted. “I’ve spent a lot of time with Michonne and Carol. You must be nuts if you think I don’t trust you because you’re a girl.”

 

“Then why--”

 

“My dad told me that it was my job to keep Judith safe, if he wasn’t able to and--”

 

“--I’m not your sister, Carl. I’m not really your family when you think about it. I’m just me. Just your friend and _you’re_ nuts if you think there’s ever a time when I’m not going to be there to watch out for _you_. “ She crossed her arms over her chest, frowning.

 

Carl was quiet for several seconds while Clementine stared hard at him.  “I’m sorry I slammed the door. That was dumb.”

 

Clementine rolled her eyes, but didn’t say anything.

 

“And I’m sorry for how I handled everything earlier tonight. I just... Clem. I saw your name on that list and I freaked out, okay? I should have just told my dad and Daryl.”

 

Clementine reached out for Carl’s hand and squeezed it.  “I ... don’t understand.”

 

Carl sighed, turning a little towards her. He squeezed her hand back, then pulled away to push all ten fingers through his hair.  “When we got here, I noticed some stuff. Some adults would just go silent when I was around, or there was this one weird time when a girl was kicked out of the ASZ. I didn’t know what on earth she could have done to be kicked out into this,” he waved his hand around, “Like, what would you have to do to deserve that? Then uh. You.”

 

Clem raised an eyebrow. She couldn’t see him clearly, but Carl’s voice sounded horribly awkward.

 

“You got your.. uh. thing.”

 

Clem blinked, utterly stymied.  “My... thing?”

 

Carl coughed. “Er. Your girl... thing.”

 

“You mean my period?”  Clem felt her face go hot. Oh jeez. It was a little embarrassing to talk about that stuff but Carl’s reaction was almost funny, like he was more embarrassed than she was.

 

Carl nodded. When he spoke it was really quickly. “That other Judy you work with came bounding out of the med center, and ran right up to one of the town council. I had Judith in her stroller and we were on our way to the park, and you know how adults sometimes say stuff around us like we forgot how to use our ears?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Well, they were talking about how you were ready. I thought it was some sort of medical thing, that they were taking you on as an apprentice, and you were ready for the responsibility or something.”

 

Clem frowned. “I’m ready?”

 

“Yeah. Well, nothing much happened after that, then I saw the list. It was.. uh. just some women and a list of dates- when they started their uh, stuff, and when they could have babies.”

 

Clementine remembered what Michonne had told her about keeping track of ovulation, and how babies really were made and all sorts of stuff that had made her blush at the time to remember telling Luke ‘I know what you're talking about....Like, kissing stuff....’ when she hadn't had a clue. Not really. Sex was kind of ...weird to think about. Clem remembered catching Omid and Christa doing a lot of heavy duty hugging and kissing, but she hadn’t really put two and two together until Michonne had laid everything out.

 

The thought of Carl knowing about babies, and about sex specifically made Clem feel really funny in a way she didn’t want to think about right now.  She blinked, trying to refocus her thoughts.   “I didn’t get a chance to tell you what I saw down in that basement.”

 

Carl turned, moving a little closer. “No. I figured it was bad though.”

 

“Not bad- not for me, but ... scary. There was a really pregnant lady down there. She was .. like a prisoner, Carl.  They had the walker on the other end to make sure they didn’t leave, and that door and... it was so dark and scary in that basement.”

 

Carl whistled. “What do you think all that means?”

 

“I. I’m not sure. Something to do with babies though. They said they didn’t want to hurt us, and were mad about having to do it, remember?”

 

“Yeah, well not mad enough to let us go. Or Hector.”

 

“Yeah, and Matt---”

 

There was a low groaning sound of a walker outside, and the both froze, fumbling for weapons.  Walkers could easily beat in the glass if they were hungry enough.  They’d been talking in whispers under the tarp, but anything could go wrong, really. It sounded like there were a lot of them, and they were moving around the truck. A couple stumbled into it, causing it to shake, but the tarp seemed to have worked, keeping their movement on the inside of the truck from being seen by those on the outside.

 

Clem was suddenly, horribly aware that her ankle was throbbing in time with her rapidly beating heart- and if they had to make a run for it it was gonna hurt like the devil.

 

_Thwap. Thwap._

 

That sound that was so familiar to them that they both almost knocked their heads together turning to grin at each other:  a crossbow bolt embedding itself into something. _Daryl_!

 

Still there was the slightest chance that it was someone else, so Carl’s muttered, “Be ready” was hardly necessary.

 

Clem felt her heart in her throat as Rick’s voice came through the tarp. “That’s the last of ‘em.”, and Carl obviously forgot his own warning in his haste to scramble out out the truck before they’d heard the all-clear whistle, but since she was doing the same thing, she didn’t really have much room to complain.  

 

“Dad! Daryl!”

 

Rick’s arms snapped around Carl’s shoulders in one of his specialized comforting hugs. Clem knew that his shoulder was still tender, even though they’d let him get rid of the cast, but it didn’t seem to matter much.

 

Daryl took in her bare foot and swollen ankle with a quick glance before setting his crossbow aside and picking her up. “Oh damn, you okay, kid?”

 

“Carl. Fredrickson. Ezekiel. Grimes. You are in _so_ much trouble.”

 

Daryl froze for a second, turning so both he and Clem could stare at the father and son.

 

“Fredrickson?” Daryl was obviously hiding a grin.

 

“Ezekiel?” Clem didn’t bother hiding anything, but bit her lip to keep from breaking out into giggles.

 

Rick glared at the both of them from over the top of Carl’s head. He pointed to Daryl. “You, hush.” Then to Clem. “And you’re in just as much trouble, girly.”

 

Clementine stopped giggling rather abruptly, which caused Michonne, who had been watching all of them, to snort. “Come on. We can talk about this later. That was a fairly decent-sized herd and there could be more. The truck looks safe enough. Let’s discuss the rest of this on the road, okay?” She put Daryl’s crossbow in the bed of the truck and pulled down the tarp.

 

Rick sighed, pinching the top of his nose.  “Yeah. Good call. Come on, you guys. Clem, you okay?”

 

Clem blushed again when everyone stared at her. She felt like a princess or something in Daryl’s arms.  “It’s just my ankle. We should probably go, though.”

 

Rick spoke lowly, with an intensity that she hadn’t heard in awhile.  “Think we should hole up for a bit and figure out what’s goin’ on.”

 

“We could go to the cabin.”

 

Michonne sighed. “Whatever. Let’s just go somewhere.”

 

In short order they were all in the cab of the truck, with Michonne and Daryl in the back, and Clem, Carl and Rick in the front. Carl handed the keys to his dad, and Rick started the truck with no problems, driving away from the ASZ with the lights off.

  
Clem didn’t know what tomorrow would bring, but Carl was safe, she was safe, and the rest would work itself out.  And if it didn't... well. Rick, Daryl, and Michonne would take care of their own.  She didn’t know much, but she sure as heck knew that. 


	7. Chapter 7

There was a bit of nostalgia to sitting around a campfire.

 

Clem hadn’t really had a chance to do that with this group- other than a bit from Atlanta to where they had been separated in the mountains.  She had eaten with this with Rick, once he’d been awake when they’d had the time and the opportunity, but it hadn’t been an everyday thing.  Mostly though, it made her miss Kenny something horrible.

 

“Hey, Clem? You okay? You looked like you were about to cry for a second there.”  Rick’s voice was gentle as he offered her some of the fish Daryl had caught. They had driven east and were holed up in a garage that Rick and Daryl had.... for some reason that Clem didn’t want to think about too closely.  There had been fishing poles and a lantern buried in a lockbox, and the bed was looked pretty comfortable.  The five of them were sitting in the other end of the structure, around a cosy little fire. For a bolt hole or a “just in case” stash, it was pretty nice.

 

“Oh. Just ... remembering stuff.  People I guess. Other campfires.” Clem chewed. “I was in a place like this before they took me.” She swallowed, noticing that everyone had stilled and was watching her. Michonne sat to her left, and turned her neck so that she could see Clem completely, instead of her profile. Carl, Rick and Daryl were across from her, with Carl on her right. He did the same thing, only he turned towards her with his whole body, like what she said had shocked him.  Clem went back over it in her mind and sighed.

 

“It’s not as bad as what you were thinking, really. I was with my friend, Kenny and-” Clem couldn’t help the way her voice caught. “And Alvin Jr. AJ. We had just gotten to this nice house, kind of set back in the woods though.  The house itself had had a fire, but Kenny said the garage was structurally sound enough, so we were staying there. It was... it was just a nice memory. Feeling full around a fire and being with your friends.” Clem blushed a little, ducking her head.

 

“You never talk much about your life before,” Carl said, leaning forward.

 

“And she don’t have to now. It ain’t required, if it’s something you want to keep private. But, if you want us to know, you know we’ll all listen.”

 

Clem nodded at Daryl, wiggling a little in place. Rick had bound up her ankle, and Michonne had given her some aspirin, but it still hurt like the dickens.  She knew that Daryl was saying that they weren’t gonna pry, but she kind of wanted to talk about it, too.  

 

Clem moved so she was on her knees, kneeling up on them so that her shoulder was visible. She stretched her t-shirt so that they could see the pitted, painful-looking wound that Anvo had left her with when he had shot her.  “Not talking to you guys wasn’t anything personal. Bad stuff happens when I trust people is all.”

 

“That’s a big  wound.  Heavy ammo. Shotgun?” Rick’s voice had gone low and dangerous, and Clem nodded.  She had the fleeting thought that Anvo better be glad Rick Grimes didn’t know who had shot her, because if he did the Russian kid probably wouldn’t be around for very long.

 

“Yeah. When I woke up with this, it was... well Kenny said later that he didn’t have any supplies, so once they cleaned it and cauterized it, I was so sore. No drugs.” She smiled a little wanly at Michonne’s whistle. “I got that because the people I was with were stealing what little stuff we had. Kenny had gotten really violent, and everyone said that he was gonna snap. But he was never violent towards me, or to Alvin Jr. Just protective, and, “ Clem shrugged her shirt back into place and sat back down. “I don’t know. I felt safe with him.  He always put me first, or the baby.”

 

Clem saw the adults raise their eyebrows in that way that adults do when they communicate without words.  Clem blew out a breath.  “I started kind of at the end of my story, but it’s too much to tell in one night. Alvin Jr. was Rebecca and Alvin’s baby. They both died, and I was taking care of him; well, me and Kenny were. We even had a chance to stay at a community, kind of like the ASZ, but they would have made Kenny go on alone. He was so mad at me when I refused to give them Alvin Jr., and even madder when I refused to abandon him. He wasn’t my dad or anything like that, but he was my friend for a long time and I trusted him.”

 

The fire popped and Michonne passed around the water bottle. Clem sighed. “Anyway.  It was down to just the three of us. My arm had just started to heal, so the skin didn’t stretch when I reached for something, but Kenny and AJ  were sick.  I volunteered to go out and get some water for them. It was ... five minutes. Maybe less that I was gone.”

 

Clem shuddered, wrapping her arms around herself, feeling cold even though the fire was blasting heat in the small building.

 

“The men were dressed like police officers, which was weird. Everything was clean, almost like none of this happened. The big guy smelled like bubblegum.” Clem shook her head. “I don’t know why I did it. He said to come here, and I took a step forward- cuz, like, when an officer asks you to do something you do it, right?”

 

Rick nodded.

 

Daryl looked pale and had an expression on his face that kind of scared Clem a little.  For some reason she didn’t want to look at Carl, to see his reaction.

 

“I just remember stepping forward with the bucket, and a jab on my neck, and then I was in a car. I was handcuffed, and really, really thirsty. They drove for a long time, but I think I was out for some of it. Whenever I’d wake up, they’d just jab me again and _whooosh,_ I was out for the count.  I woke up all the way in that apartment complex. I don’t know why they stopped there, or what had happened, but one had turned, and the officer that smelled like bubble gum had shot him. He was really angry, and I tried not to make any noise. Or let him know that I was awake and not faking, but he knew.” Clem took a drink of the water, remembering how very thirsty she’d been, how scared when she’d woken up to see that Officer Bubblegum had also turned into a walker. “When I woke up again, I ran, and ... you guys found me.” Clem nodded towards Rick and Daryl, who she noticed had grabbed Rick’s hand.  “I wish could tell Kenny sorry. He must think that I’m dead, or that... that I just up and left him and AJ. I’m not... mad that I’m with you. Not at all. I wouldn’t even know where to begin to look for him, really. It’s just that for a second, I wished he was here with us.”

 

Everyone politely looked away while she wiped her eyes and sniffed, then took another drink.

 

“You guys had lost your friend Beth, but you found me instead. I kind of like to think that if I had ended up at the hospital with her and Noah,  if I would have met you all anyway.” Clem’s smile was wobbly, but it was there.

 

Rick cleared his throat.  “Thank you, Clem. I won’t tell you that Alvin and Kenny are okay, but I know Kenny knows that there was no way you’d leave him willingly.”

 

Clementine nodded.  Her thought- _That’s almost worse though, isn’t it?_ she kept from speaking, mostly because she didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. But Clem knew that someday, she’d go and track down Kenny and AJ and find out what had happened to them. She and Kenny had found each other once twice now. A third time shouldn’t be too hard.

 

Michonne sighed, scratching at her braids.  “Not to change the subject, but I think we gotta talk about what happened tonight. Again.”

 

They had talked a little bit while Daryl was fishing and Michonne and Rick were getting everything set up for their very late dinner... or early breakfast, depending on how Clem looked at it.  Rick and Daryl knew the basics of what had happened to them and Hector, and what Matthew had done. Rick thought that Matthew was probably going to let them go, but Daryl thought he was just trying to get the guts to shoot them, and the two of them had agreed to not talk about it for awhile so they wouldn’t fight.

 

No one really liked it when Rick and Daryl fought.

 

“Right. Okay, so here’s what we know.” Rick sat back so he was on his elbows, his head on Daryl’s lap. It made Clem fiercely glad that she had helped get Rick back to the ASZ, even if she’d only had a little bit to do with all that. They were so comfortable together like this: a united front working to solve a problem together.

 

“One, Monroe is a fuckin’ asshole.”

 

Clem opened her mouth to chastise him for the language, then shut it. Rick wasn’t wrong.

 

“Their idea- if this is what they’re doing- is a good one. Not their execution, but yeah. Population _is_  important, especially now. Everyone probably _should_ be lookin’ for kids, protecting them, same stuff as before, but it’s for damn sure not appropriate to _force_ them women to have a baby.”

 

“Girls. Clem’s name was on that list.” Carl’s voice was hard. Hearing his voice made Clem jump a little, surprised. She hadn’t forgotten that he was there, not exactly, but he hadn’t talked in awhile, so his voice was startling in a way.

 

“Right.” Rick looked up at the ceiling, obviously thinking. “Now , two, is this really our problem?” He held up a hand in a ‘stop’ motion to forestall their responses. It didn’t quite work. Michonne made a sound like an angry cat, and Daryl looked down at Rick like he’d said something so stupid that it was criminal. “Don’t look at me like that. I’m just tryin’ to see all sides. Yeah, there’s shitty stuff going on, but are you guys sure you want to get involved? It’s likely gonna be bloody. Dangerous at the very least. For what it’s worth, yeah. I think we should. Abraham and Carol, and Ty and all them would be on this like white on rice, but I want you all to really think about whether we _should_.”  

 

Michonne snorted. “Shit, if nothing else, we’re all bored. If this is our home, then we need to clean house. Simple as that.”

 

“Yeah.” Carl sounded like he’d go get all of them alone as soon as any of the adults turn their backs.

 

“Exactly.” Daryl glared down at Rick for a second before his face softened.

 

“All right, all right, like I said, I agree. I just wanted to throw this out there. Okay, so number three. It looks like they’re keeping women as prisoners. Either raping them to get them pregnant, or kidnappin’ pregnant ladies and taking their babies. It could have been going on since before that bug took out all of ‘em, but as far as I see it---”

 

“That don’t matter. We stop it.”  Daryl pointedly continued with cleaning his crossbow bolt and Rick smirked up at him a little.

 

“Right. We stop it.”

 

Michonne sighed. “You two are like gay, redneck superheroes.”

 

At Daryl and Rick’s  identical looks of falsely injured pride, Clem snorted a laugh that surprised her. She choked a little on air, and Carl had to pound her back until she remembered how oxygen worked.

 

“Thanks... Ezekiel,” Clementine gasped.

 

“Oh shut up.” Carl pushed her over so that she fell into Michonne.

 

With all the craziness, _that_ was why she stayed with them. She belonged to them as much as they belonged to her.  Clem wasn’t all the way sure what the next day would bring- and if they’d all be okay once it was over, but she knew that her crazy little family would do everything they could to make things right- like Kenny would. Or Lee.

 

“It’ll be light in a few hours. We should get some rest while we can. Rick, you want to help me outside?”  Rick nodded, then got up. Clem rolled her eyes. Those two had been disappearing together off by themselves for long enough that she wasn’t exactly sure who they thought they were fooling anymore, but it was still kind of cute that they tried.

 

Michonne looked suspiciously at the sheets before she climbed onto the bed, and Clem had no problems with joining her. It felt good to stretch out.  She tossed down a pillow and a blanket to Carl who grunted in thanks, then yawned.

 

Clem fell asleep, feeling safe and comfortable for the first time since that stupid D&D game. She heard Carl snoring shortly after, and Rick and Daryl murmuring quietly to each other after they came back inside as they banked the fire and settled in for the night.

 

That night, she dreamed of AJ and Judith playing together on the swings. A little bit after sunrise, when she woke up, her pillow was wet, but that wasn’t anybody’s business but hers.

  
  


TBC....

  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	8. Chapter 8

Morning came soon enough, with Daryl touching Clem’s shoulder so she’d get up. Shoulder meant everything’s fine, face meant danger.  Clem blinked up at the ceiling, surprised that she’d remembered that. In the months since finding the ASZ with Rick, she hadn’t had much of a use for their signals, things that had been part of their everyday life previously. It was like Rick and Daryl and their whistles. All of them still used them, but Rick and Daryl did it almost without realizing it; communicating with what Carl called their ‘weird mild-meld tricks.’ Clem thought it was more of a Jedi mind trick, but nothing good came from them debating the two. The last time they had, the two of them hadn’t spoken for an entire week and that was only after Rick had pretty much threatened to lock them in the house together until they started getting along.

 

Clem sighed.

 

“You okay?”

 

She sat up, wincing when her ankle told her in no uncertain terms that it didn’t appreciate being jarred around.  She flexed it cautiously, and decided that she’d probably live. Clem nodded at Michonne, then shook her head when Michonne’s concerned stare turned into a ‘don’t give me any bs’ look.

 

Clem looked at the small garage. The windows and garage door were boarded up, with enough stuff stacked against the outside door to let them know if anyone tried to come inside. There was a small hole in the roof, and either Rick or Daryl had placed enough broken mirrors so that the space was lit up pretty well for early morning’s light. Carl was passed out on the floor, curled in a nest of blankets, and Daryl and Rick were talking quietly by the fire, with something bubbling on a cookpot, on a makeshift grill lying over the fire.

 

“I don’t want to be be stuck here today.”

 

Michonne stretched, turning so she was looking fully at Clementine.  “What makes you think that you will be?”

 

“I got us all into this mess because I was mad Carl left me behind.” Clem frowned. “I know my ankle is sprained, but I don’t want you guys to use that as an excuse. You didn’t see--” Clem bit her lip. “That woman I saw, in the basement? Her arms were raw. So were her legs. She fought ‘til she hurt herself, Michonne. She didn’t want to be there, and I’m worried that they might have done something bad to her because I got caught down there.”

 

“Hmm.” Michonne’s gaze was unflinching. "I think you're right to worry for her. But as sickening as it is to say, there's a good chance they're not gonna do anything to hurt the mama while that baby is still in her. Not if they went through all that trouble to put it there."

 

"I guess." Clementine didn't want to argue with Michonne, but she knew those same guys had no problem killing Hector or ordering her and Carl's deaths. "If I was locked up down there, or if you were, they'd do everything they could to save us. All of 'em." She jerked her chin towards Rick and Daryl.

 

"Honey, if one of us were locked up down there they would burn that town to the ground."

 

Clem sat up all the way, swinging her legs down carefully, so as to not hurt Carl. Her smile was a little sad as she looked back over her shoulder at Michonne. Clem smoothed her hair down, redoing her nubby ponytails. “I know. That’s my point. we need to be like that for everyone that’s in trouble, not just our own people. Or we’re really no better than _them_.”  

 

She got up and nodded to Rick, who was staring at her over a coffee cup filled with what looked like oatmeal. She limped over to the other side of the room, then slipped out the door so she could go pee, rolling her eyes when she heard Daryl behind her.   They’d all gotten really good at giving what privacy they could while making sure everyone was safe.  Whatever embarrassment she used to feel was pretty much lost the first time she’d had a walker come up to her when she was trying to find toilet paper.

 

Clem did her thing, a little surprised when Daryl stopped her before going back inside.  She used the little bottle of hand sanitizer she kept in her pocket and wiped her hands on her jeans, waiting for him to speak.

 

“Heard you talkin’ with ‘Chonne.” He fumbled in his pocket and came out with a cigarette, which caused Clem’s eyebrows to hike up. Everyone (including Rick) knew that he smoked them, but Daryl liked to pretend that he didn’t. Adults were weird sometimes. He lit it and took a drag.

 

Clem shivered in the early dawn air and shoved her hands in her pockets. “Yeah?”

 

“You get the answers you were lookin’ for?”

 

“Not really.”

 

Daryl tilted his head back, exhaling. The smoke traveled up in a cloud, only to be lost in the fog.  He took another drag, looking around meditatively before focusing back on Clem.  “Yeah. You plannin’ on explain’ what really happened to you and Carl?”

 

Clem bit her lip, blinking when a really terrible idea occurred to her.  She didn’t want Michonne, Rick, Daryl, and even Carl to treat her like a kid? Well, maybe it was time for her to start acting like a grown-up.  “I’ll tell you everything. How we ended up almost shot. How we almost died....” Clem trailed off when she saw Daryl’s knuckles go white at the mention of them almost being shot. “...if you make sure I get to go with you guys today. Don’t leave me behind because of my ankle. I want to help. I _can_ help.”

 

It was Daryl’s turn to raise both eyebrows.  “Shit.” He drew out the word like a sigh, almost looking impressed. “That’s ballsy.” He was quiet for a minute. “Say you do go. And something happens, we need you sharp and you fall down because your ankle breaks instead of just bein’ sprained. You let Carl down. Or Me.” He blew out smoke again. “Or Rick. You gonna be able to live with that?”

 

Clem’s eyes narrowed. “You gonna be able to live without knowing exactly what those guys did to us?”

 

Daryl shrugged. “I was asking for Rick.”

  
Clem snorted. Yeah, right. Like Rick was the only head of their little family that cared. Daryl was such a _liar_ sometimes.

 

“But whatever. You can tell him that yourself. Let’s go back inside. Time to get on.”   He put out the smoke on the fencepost, dropping the cherry and making sure it was buried before putting the unsmoked part back in his pocket.

 

Clem had just enough time to grin and take a step  towards the door before she turned, almost walking smack dab into Rick. Her stomach to lurched with nerves. He looked... whew. Clem instinctively took a step back, brushing up against Daryl behind her. She jutted out her chin, knowing she was being stubborn, and not caring. If someone could be killed with just the power of eyeballs, then Clem would be a tiny stain of ash on the ground.

 

Michonne and Carl were just inside the garage, having obviously heard every word of Clem and Daryl’s exchange. As did Rick. Which meant everyone knew what she was doing.

 

Clementine gulped.

 

Rick sounded like he was counting under his breath. He took a step to the side and let Daryl and Clem come through the door before walking to the truck and starting it up, pointedly not saying anything.

 

Clem had time for a quick, wide-eyed look towards Carl who was making a face that made it clear that the thought it was clearly _just fine_ that Clem was the one in trouble for once, before the two of them followed Rick to the truck. Daryl glanced around the garage, taking in the dead fire and empty dishes and sighed.

 

“Come on, kid. I reckon you’ll get a chance to get in on the planning while we go back to the ASZ.”

 

Stubbornly, Clem just shrugged. Whatever. She wasn’t going to be left out on this. She was sick of people treating her like a little kid, like she needed to be protected like Judith did.

 

The ride back towards Alexandria was quiet for the first half an hour or so.  Clem, from her seat in the back seat, could see a muscle in Rick’s jaw twitching and thought it prudent to keep her dang mouth shut. Rick would talk when he was ready.

 

It was sometime later before Rick blew out a frustrated breath through his nose. At the sound, Michonne, Daryl, Carl, and Clem all relaxed minutely, as though some of the tension had left the cab of the truck.

 

“This is the plan. If _anyone_ dislikes the plan, complains about the plan, or otherwise acts like a brat, they will be handcuffed to the toilet and left at home until such time as everything has been resolved to my satisfaction.” Rick’s blue gaze met hers in the rearview mirror, and Clem was relieved to see a tiny smirk hovering on his lips.  “Abraham and Tyreese are out on a run.”

 

Clem nodded.  She knew that Maggie, Glenn, Sasha, Bob and Noah had all gone with them, looking for a number of “less frufru house furnishings”. Clem suspected that they were probably looking for a few other things too, but they hadn’t seen fit to tell her, and Clem didn’t think it was her business to ask.

 

“I think we can park and hide this truck a mile or so out, and walk in. Daryl said it’s in pretty good shape, and it couldn’t hurt to have a truck available when we need it. Should be okay if we hide it. That leaves the five of us, Carol, Eugene, Rosita, and Tara.” He steered around a stalled car in the road, one that Clem didn’t even remember from last night.  “We have plenty of weapons.”

 

Daryl snorted. “That’s for damn sure. And Lil’ A?”

 

“I can stay with her, dad.” Rick raised his eyebrow, but Clem wanted to roll her eyes again. She was pretty sure the offer was about 50% genuine and 50% Carl sucking up so Clem looked bad, but she’d take it.

 

“Right. So the eight of us will take down Monroe, get those women to safety, and make sure everyone knows what’s goin’ on- to do that, we’re gonna have to call a meeting.”

 

The town council of the ASZ had a bell they used for emergencies. It was an old fire station bell. Clem’d been told that when it rang,  it sent the walkers around the perimeter absolutely nuts. It had never been used since their arrival, but somehow everyone knew that when it rang it was a sign for everyone (except those on watch) to drop what they’re doing and hightail it to the community center.

 

“Alright. Clem, you’re on bell detail. Daryl, enough people in this town respect you so you go with her, make sure they’re all rounded up.  “Michonne, me and the rest are gonna go in, get everyone out, and meet up at the community center, and we’ll all have a little talk.”

 

“Make sure you’re careful in the basement.”

 

“Dad, there’s a walker guard--”

 

Clem and Carl turned to stare at each other, having spoke at the same time.

 

Michonne’s quiet voice seemed very loud in the suddenly silent truck. “Y’all mean t’say there was a walker guarding the basement?”

 

Carl nodded. “Just about got us, too. We snuck in- Clem did that locks thing Daryl showed her- and we had no clue there’d be a damn walker in the steps to the basement. It got Hector, but Matthew killed it.”

 

“Well, Matt knew it was there. He had to have.” _That_ little factoid bloomed brightly in her mind and Clem knew that it was fact. It made her heart hurt a little, to be honest.

 

Carl frowned. “Crap. I didn’t think about that. He... he let Hector go in there _blind_?”

 

Rick’s knuckles were so tight on the steering wheel that they popped. The low, grinding sound of Rick grinding his  teeth made Clem’s skin crawl.  It was almost as bad as letting Lee down, or knowing she’d let Kenny down. She turned her head to look out of the window. Clem wasn’t exactly proud of herself; she knew that Rick and Daryl honestly cared and keeping things secret was just immature and probably stupid, but she didn’t have much else to bargain with. Either Rick’s plan would work, and she was involved, or it wouldn’t, and she was still involved. Better than staying home with the baby, or them just assuming that she’d want to be treated like some princess in an ivory tower.

 

Clem sighed, watching the passing scenery, trying not to notice just how many the ghostly shape of the walkers there were. They didn’t seem to care about such pesky things as their conscience, worried only about their next meal as they weaved in and out of the trees in the early morning light.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to **FoxyK** for the ninja beta!  <3


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **A/N: Implied drug use and drinking of minors. Mentions of off-screen rape. Earns its violence rating here. Also, Clem’s backstory has spoilers for some of the choices/endings in the games, but I guess if you’ve made it this far then you’ve made your peace with all that. :)**

“Hey, Dad?” Carl’s whisper halted them all, even though Carl was only talking to Rick.

Rick stopped, turning to look back at Carl. He raised an eyebrow. Clem noticed that he had been getting testier and testier as they got closer to Alexandria, and once they pulled over and hid the truck in some underbrush, all of them had gone back to battle-mode, the super-aware of their surroundings that had become their second nature while on the outside.

“Are you sure you want to go in the front?”

Daryl made a sound that sounded like a cross between a laugh and a snort.  Rick stopped short and swung around, staring down his son. He seemed slightly surprised that he didn’t have to look down at Carl, staring at his son at almost eye-level.

“Unless you know a secret way in...”

“Uh.” Carl looked down at his sneaker, itching at a bug bite on his finger.

“You might as well just spit it out,” Clem said, not bothering to hide the smugness from her voice.

Carl glared at her. Clem just stared at him and blinked a few times, fighting to keep the smirk off her face. Her ankle throbbed, but she ignored it, wanting to keep moving. It was easier to ignore while she was walking.

“IsometimesuseittosneakoutwithAngelica.”

For some reason Clem found the smirk wiped off her face.

“You. Sometimes sneak out of _Alexandria_  with _Angelica_?” Rick’s voice rose to a furious, hissing whisper after Carl’s quick answer.

Carl’s face was bright red. Clem could picture Angelica, tall, blonde, very pretty. Also very old. She was like, seventeen or something and fairly new to the ASZ. She’d not been around much lately, and town gossip had it that she had left with a boyfriend or something.

“Yeah, but not for anything- I mean. She just. We just.” Carl looked to Michonne and Daryl for help, both of whom just shook their heads at him, with almost identical grins on their faces.

“Huuuhnn.” Rick’s grunt sounded slightly suspicious.

Carl cleared his throat. “Um. Yeah. Anyway, we can go in that way if you don’t want to go through the gates. Who knows who is on watch, y’know?”

“That’s true. We were both done with our shifts, but they knew we’d left on a run. Either we split up and the kids go in the back way, or we _all_ go in the back way.”

“I don’t see the point of splitting up.”

Clem was really, really glad that Michonne said that. She didn’t much want to split up either. It seemed like too many things could go wrong.

“It backs up to the woods behind the trench on the Southeast side. It takes you under the drain, and lets you out by the Miller place.”

“Shit, Rick. I just realized, too: You can’t have Carl just strollin’ along the road, especially if he’s supposed to be dead. Our place is almost two blocks away from the Miller’s house.”

Rick pinched the top of his nose, sighing. “Shit. _Shit_ , you’re right. I’m not thinkin’ straight.” He blew out a breath, staring off into space, thinking.  “Well, We had Tara watching Judith, right? She’s gonna bring her when we ring the bell, so....”

“I can find her at the community center.” Clem realized all at once that it wasn’t about them thinking she was strong, or that there was some kind of shame in watching the baby. She was doing a job that they all needed done, and it had been dumb to fight about it. “I’ll stay with her, and send Tara and Daryl to you guys if you need me to.”

“Maybe you forgot that you’re supposed to be dead too?” Rick didn’t quite snap. His face was thunderous and she didn’t quite understand why.

Daryl’s gaze shot to Rick’s, and to Clem’s shock he rolled his eyes. “ _Jesus._ Carl is damn near taller than I am if he stands on his tippy toes. Clem is... short. Skinny. I can hide her, and there needs to be one of us with them no matter what,” He shrugged. “It just makes sense.” Daryl’s tone brooked no room for an argument. “Carl, you stay with your dad. Now come on, show us how to sneak in.”

Carl coughed, shot a quick look at his dad, and nodded.

“We ready? Alright then. Carl, take us on out.”

It wasn’t too hard. There was an old, dilapidated shack that Carl lead them to. There were a few walkers stumbling around the place, and Michonne and Rick dispatched them almost in unison. They fell to the ground with a wet _splat_. Carl very carefully did not make eye contact with anyone as he led them through the door.

Inside were a couple of stained mattresses, a lot of beer cans, and what looked like a bunch of cigarettes. There was also a funny looking glass thing that Clem thought was sort of pretty. It had a bulb sort of at the bottom, and a large, thin tube at the top. There was a smaller part that had a valve, that looked sort of like the mouthpiece on a trumpet, but not quite. There was some ash in it. Weird. “Is that for candles?” Clem asked, picking it up and letting it catch the light.

There was weird sound from behind her but when she turned to look at Daryl, he just shrugged, face carefully blank.

“Somethin’ like that, hon. Come on, let’s go.” Rick’s voice sounded like a bit off and he grabbed Carl’s arm, hissing something into his ear that Clem was too far away to hear.  She set the candle-thing down and shrugged, looking around. Michonne looked like she was trying to hide a smile. Clem sighed really loudly. It was obvious that she’d missed something, but it was also just as clear that no one was gonna tell her what the heck it was. One day when she was all the way grown up, she wasn’t gonna hide jokes and stuff from kids.

Carl was very quiet as he pulled up the basement door, and led them down some rickety stairs. “Through here is the tunnel under the trench. It’s out of the way enough that you can’t see from the guard tower.” At Rick’s scoff, he insisted, voice jumping to almost a squeak. “You can’t! I checked!” He took a glass bottle and hurled it into the tunnel, a simple enough test to see if any walkers had made their way inside.

They all paused, listening to it shatter. The echo brought no sound of hissing, moaning, or growling.  Carl huffed a breath and started walking.

“They musta made this in case of an emergency when they were building this place.” Clem flipped on her trusty maglite, cupping the beam so it wouldn’t hurt anyone’s eyes.

“Yeah, but if they have one, it ain’t that hard to have two. Or more.” Daryl’s voice echoed slightly in the tunnel.

_Well **that** was a cheery thought._

It only took about a half an hour for them to make their slow and careful way through the tunnel, through the woods, and back up through another basement. It wasn’t the Miller’s house, which was good. Clem had heard that Mr. Miller liked to practice naked art, and she had absolutely no desire to see anything having to do with that. Besides. Popping up in his basement would probably send the old guy into a heart attack.

“Okay. You be careful. The fire house ain’t far.”  

Daryl rolled his eyes at Rick’s attempt not to be affectionate in public (cuz really. Even Clem could see straight through _that._ ) and walked over, pulling Rick’s face to his for a long kiss.  They separated, and Daryl rested his forehead against Rick’s, taking a quiet moment for just the two of them. It was strangely sweet, and Clem found herself blinking a little faster than normal. Her parents used to do stuff like that, not able to hide their affection for one another. “You be careful. Asshole. Bring those girls to the community center so they can tell their story. Don’t hesitate to shoot that fucker though, or any of his buddies. Not after what they did.”

“Yeah.” Rick kissed him quick, and pulled away, clearing his throat.  “Michonne, you round up the troops. You two skedaddle, and we’ll wait here ‘til they set off the alarm.”

Clem bit her lip, giving Carl, Michonne, and Rick a little wave goodbye. Carl seemed to have gotten over whatever was bugging him from before, and nodded at both her and Daryl. Clem took a deep breath and started walking, pushing through the door and making her way onto the street. She noticed that Daryl was keeping his body on the outside, so that if anyone did anything, they’d have to go through him. Not that there were many people out. Mornings were pretty quiet, out of necessity.

Neccessit--

Clem blinked, all at once understanding. “Oh!” She gasped, ducking behind another empty house. The thought had been niggling at her deep in her brain. She hadn’t even realized she’d been thinking about it until the thought snapped into place with an almost physical _click_. They weren’t too far from the fire station, but she was so rocked by her sudden thought that she almost couldn’t walk. It was like messing up her ankle all over again. Her heart and stomach and throat felt all funny, like she was gonna throw up and burst into tears at the same time.

“What? What is it?” Daryl’s gaze darted around, looking for danger, for what had made her stop so suddenly.  She was used to how quickly his crossbow would just materialize in his hand, but it was still pretty awe-inspiring.

Clem bit her lip, turning and throwing her arms around Daryl. She pressed her face into his stomach, trying desperately not to cry.

“Clementine. Clem, hon, what is it? What’s the matter?”

“I. _That’s_ why you and Rick split up. So... so... one of you would be with each of his kids if ... if...” Clem couldn’t make herself say ‘if he died.’ It seemed too much like tempting something terrible to happen.

Daryl went still, cupping the back of her head. “Not just his kids, Clem. You know that, right?”

She did. Clem nodded frantically, sniffing a little wetly. “Yeah,” she whispered. Her eyes were burning and it was really hard not to cry.  It was one thing to think you were part of a family. Luke had said it, and so had Lee. In all of this... after, sometimes it was just a group of people you knew, but if you were really, really lucky, it was a family that took you in. Realizing that Rick was making sure she and Judith were kept safe by the man he trusted the most... it just. It just meant a lot, and Clem promised herself she’d never do anything to make them regret caring for her so much. She sniffed again and pulled away.

“Are-- we, uh. Is everything okay?” Daryl’s voice sounded strange. He coughed.

Clem nodded. “Come on. They’re waiting for us. Rick is probably freaking out, watching me hug you like that, wondering what’s wrong.”

Daryl turned and waved at the house, smirking a little.  “There. That’ll drive him even more bugshit.”

Clem almost giggled, keeping the happy sound behind her teeth by a pure strength of will.  The urge shocked her. She didn’t know the last time she’d really laughed like that. They started walking, making their way to the fire station without meeting anyone. It wasn’t locked- because in an emergency people would need to get the warning out as soon as possible- but it was a little tricky to get to.  

Clem took a deep breath and flipped the switches, wincing at the resulting cacophony.

**CLANG. CLANG CLANG!  CLANG CLANG CLANG!**

“Well, we best get on.”

“Okay.” She winced, covering her ears. “Okay,” she repeated, still a little shaky.

Clem took a deep breath and rushed out of the fire station, joining the streaming crowd of citizens. Some had obviously jumped up out of bed, and almost everyone was bristling with their version of survival packs. Clem felt a little guilty making everyone worry like this.

“Daryl!”

At Carol’s voice both Clem and Daryl stopped. The short-haired woman was fairly bristling with weapons, and Clem watched as her face went hard, then pale and furious as Daryl quickly explained to her what was going on. She nodded and ran back towards the Monroe house, obviously waiting for Rick to give her further instruction.

Once they got to the community center, Daryl had her hang back a bit, obviously watching the crowd for Tara and Judith. Clem tried to help him look but there were a lot of people and it was hard to see.  She gasped when she saw the man that had dragged her out of the basement, and pressed back against Daryl’s legs, shocked. Daryl simply turned his body so she was out of the man’s line of sight, and Clem sucked in a deep breath. She didn’t know why seeing him had made her feel so shaky. It wasn’t like he had really hurt her, after all.

Daryl stared at him for a few minutes, face carefully blank.  A flash of pink caught his eye, and he turned, the dark look disappearing into a smile when Judith reached for him.  She laughed and said something that sounded a lot like “gabugh” and went easy enough into his arms.

“Oh man, the alarm went off and I freaked. I only packed her one change of clothes, but got all the formula I could find and--”

“Hey. It’s okay, Tara. Calm down. Thanks for bringing her. We gotta fill you in on some shit.”

Clem made a face at Judith who promptly forgot all about Daryl and held out her arms for Clem to take her.  Daryl shifted her over to Clem with the practice of all fathers everywhere, and Clem found a seat near the back, sitting where she could see Daryl and Tara with no problem. She bounced Judith on her knees, trying not to worry about Carl. And everyone else. Judith didn’t seem at all bothered by the clanging sound of the alarm and laughed up at Clem, trying to gnaw on her chin with her one tooth.

The community center was an old... well, community center. It consisted of one large room, with some bathrooms and offices in the back.  There were only two doors to the place, both made out of glass.  The fifty or so people in the room were all in chairs in rows, facing a stage. They had boarded up one of the doors so that there was only one way of getting in or out of the building.

It was easy to see which of the ASZers had been out in the real world recently.  Those people were packed for battle, grabbing small, light backpacks and satchels, gun butts and knife handles sheathed, but in easily-accessible places.  Those that had never had to live outside, or who had become so used to the cushy life of the ASZ looked bewildered and scared, clustering together in little groups like this was an impromptu garden party. There had to be fifty people there, all looking tight with nerves and ready to bolt, confused at what was going on.

The clangs had been so loud that when they stopped suddenly, there was almost a palpable sense of ‘now what?’ that hung across the room, before people started talking. They sounded hesitant at first, buzzing like a bunch of flies, but soon it was so loud that Clem didn’t know how anything was going to get done.  She felt Daryl behind her and saw his hand reach out to chuck Judith on the chin.

The gunshot was loud in the room, causing everyone to freeze where they were and swivel their necks toward the sound.  Monroe stood in the center of the stage with his gun still pointed at the ceiling, a frown on his face. Judith’s face crumpled up, and Clem frantically tried to distract her, not wanting to draw any attention to themselves.

“Fucking idiot...” Daryl’s mutter was loud in the sudden silence.  Clem had to agree with him. Guns were _not_ toys, and if she or anyone in their family had pulled a stunt like that, Rick would have gone almost feral with a butt-chewing of epic proportions.

“Now all you guys have to just calm down! Everything is just _fine_.” Monroe’s deep voice rolled out in the way that Clem remembered from watching commercials on television. It was a calming voice. A ‘trust-me’ voice.  “We’ll get this situation under control, but in the meantime, great job on the drill!”

“That was a _drill_!?” A woman wearing just a towel shrieked. Clem rolled her eyes. She’d like to know what the hell that woman was planning on doing if there had been a walker attack in just a towel. Flash ‘em to death? Idiots.

“No.”

Rick’s voice was loud in the silence of the room. Clem felt her whole body relax as she turned to see him walking in. Carl and Carol held the door for him, because Rick had someone in his arms.  It was the pregnant woman Clem remembered from yesterday, looking terribly sick and wan in Rick’s arms. She was massively pregnant, with her stomach rising almost high enough to obscure Rick’s chin.

There were gasps as Rick walked slowly inside.  Rosita darted behind him, and she and Tara took what was obviously a guard position on the door. They let Eugene through. He was helping another woman, also pregnant, who bore evidence of a beating.

The gasps and cries went around the enclosed space like a wave.

“Angelica! My god... Angelica!”

“Uncle N-N-Nick?” Angelica’s voice wobbled.  She brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. Clem frowned, watching as the man stumbled over the chair in his haste to get to her. He was unable to speak as he clutched the girl to him, running his fingers over Angelica’s face as though he couldn’t believe she was real.

Another gunshot rang out in the silent room, and Monroe screamed.  Carol kept her gun steady on him as he crumpled on the ground, having been shot in the thigh. “You have a lot to answer for, Mr. Monroe. Don’t think you need to be leavin’ quite yet.”

Clem caught Carl’s gaze and jerked it toward the man that had taken her out of the basement, pleased when he understood immediately; pulling the borrowed shotgun and pointing it at him. “You keep your hands where I can see ‘em.” Carl’s voice wobbled a little, and Clem had to stifle the crazy urge to laugh.

“Monroe we got you and the bastard that tried to hurt my kids. You wanna explain to these people what the fuck you were doin’ or should I?”

Monroe moaned, clutching his thigh.

Clem stood up, clutching Judith on her hip. She didn’t much like these gunshots and felt that since she was in the back of the room, she was a little too exposed and Judith could easily get hurt. She walked slowly back so that her back was to the wall, watching the little frozen tableau with a churning tummy.

“I will! I’ll explain!” Angelica’s voice cracked as she pushed her long, blonde, tangled hair out of her face, shaking off the concerned hands of her uncle. “He.. He did this!” she gestured to her stomach, pointing with her other hand towards the nameless man Carl had pulled a shotgun on.

“They told me... told me if I wanted to stay, then I had to do my part. Like some breeding cow! Told me that babies were the most important thing here in Alexandria, that if I did this one thing for them, If I let Jack there ....” She broke off with a catch in her voice that hurt at Clem’s heart. “M-my uncle and I would get double rations!”

“That ain’t true at all! She was my girlfriend an’ we broke up! We broke _up_!”

“Shut up, or I’ll shoot you. _You’re_ the one that told Matt to shoot me n’ Clem. You ain’t nothing but a murderer!” Carl’s voice was low, his eyes narrowed with hatred, but the shotgun stayed steady, not wavering even an inch.

“No! I swear you guys got it all wrong! It was Dan, not me. I  didn’t do nothin’! They. They begged me to do ‘em.  To help the---- _uhh_!”

Carl, having had enough of Jack’s bullshit, jabbed him in the stomach. Hard.

Rick brought the pregnant woman towards Clem’s recently vacated chair, setting her down gently.  He looked around at the people assembled. “How many?” His voice was quiet, but Clem had no problems remembering that he was a cop. The urge to answer that voice spoke of authority, and people responded to it about how she expected.

Angelica’s uncle went terribly pale and reached for the knife at his side. Rick stopped him with his hand on the man’s wrist, and gave his head a little shake.

Jack looked like he was about to pee himself.

“How many of you were told that it was your job to help .... procreate. For the group. For our _survival_.” Rick made the word sound dirty.

Several hands went up.

Monroe was strangely quiet through all of this, like he’d already given up. Clem didn’t know him very well, but she knew someone playing possum when she saw it, and opened her mouth to shout a warning to Carol.

Carol, though, was far from stupid. While the drama unfolded between a sobbing Angelica and Jack, she walked around the front and up the small steps, moving so her back was to a wall and the whole room was in her sights. She put the gun to the base of Monroe’s skull, casually, like she’d done it hundreds of times before.

“Most of you guys around here know Carl and Clementine. They’re both good kids, and quick to help out when they need it, right?”

Clem blushed at the compliment and watched as Rick walked over and relieved Carl of the shotgun, gesturing to the man to get up. People in their audience were nodding their heads, some looking sick, some just confused. Quite a lot were staring at Jack with hatred.

Carl rotated his arm a little in the way you did when you’d held a weapon out in front of your body too long, and nodded.  He walked over by Angelica and the nameless pregnant woman. He met Clem’s gaze and she walked over to them too. Carl nudged her, and Clem bit her lip, nervous at speaking in front of all these people.

“Mr. Monroe kept a walker in his basement. You ... you can check if you don’t believe me. It was killed down there. Our friend Matt gave our other friend Hector a list with names on it. It had my name, and my friend Michonne’s-” Clem’s heart gave a funny thump when she realized Michonne wasn’t in the room- “A-and, a lot of other girls on it. It had who had um.” Clem felt her cheeks go nuclear. “Who could have babies on it.” She faltered, remembering the sad grave on the side of the road that was all she and Carl had been able to give Hector.

Carl took over as though they had rehearsed it beforehand. “Hector thought Monroe was keeping contraband, so we thought we’d go see. It was dumb. I know it was dumb, but when we got there, the walker bit Hector. There was a door that only Clem could get into, and she went into the basement. They were keeping those women in there like it was prison!”

Clem caught Daryl’s gaze. He smiled at her with a quick quirk of his lips. It gave her courage to finish. Clem’s voice was shaky as she continued. “They were both in there. I think they were drugged or something, because they didn’t do anything when we were loud because of the walker, or when I tried to help them. I didn’t even make it to Angelica’s bed because she was in such bad of shape.” Clem nodded with her chin at the sick woman, who sat there without blinking. “Then... then.. _he_ found me and dragged me upstairs. Him and Dan talked like we were gonna mess up their plans, even though they were scared of what Rick might do in retaliation.” Clem pointed to the man that Rick had maneuvered so he was up by Monroe, kneeling.  She clutched Judith to her, closing her eyes. “Then we found out that Matt was with them. That he’d tricked us, and found out Hector was bitten. They... they shot him in Mr. Monroe’s garage, and made Carl tie me up with duct tape. They tied both of us up, and told Matt he had to shoot us. I. I was so... so scared!”

Clem had absolutely no problem showing the assembled people that her eyes had teared up. She was pretty sure that anyone would feel bad towards the guy that was responsible for her crying, holding an innocent baby to her. And... well. Lee had always told her to use whatever she could, and to be smart so people underestimated her. All Clem had to do was remember what it had sounded like to hear Matt’s shot, and have Carl fall on her, thinking that _he_ had been shot, and any guilt she felt went right away.

“My God,” someone muttered.

Carl continued. Clem sniffed and looked down at the floor. “We got away from Matt, but he was killed by a walker. If my dad and his partner, and Michonne hadn’t found us, we’d be dead too. All because we saw something we shouldn’t have!”

“He’s fuckin’ lying!” Jack  growled and Rick pistol whipped him, casually, like Clem would bat at a gnat.

“So, here’s what we got here. This man is accused of rape. Either on his own, or on Monroe’s orders- it don’t matter none if he was willing to take away people’s right to chose whether or not they want to bring kids into this world. It’s wrong. I don’t need to tell you guys that it’s wrong. You got anything to say for yourself?”  This he directed to Monroe.

“... You all sat here in this very building and voted to put me in charge. You don’t like the way I went about it? Fine. Put yourself in my place then. After being attacked from within, and the damn pestilence going around like the fuckin’ plague, _you_ see how you do as a leader.”

It was so silent that they could have heard a pin drop.

Clem heard a groan, and the pregnant woman came to violently, either not realizing that she was safe or having come out of a dream that was so terrifying she didn’t know she was awake.  Carl squeaked when she grabbed him, and Clem knelt beside her, trying to calm her down.  She thrashed around, falling to her knees, and tried to scuttle back to safety, eyes wide with terror.  Angelica made a sound like a sob and hurried forward, bending down and hugging the woman.

“It’s okay Becca. You’re safe. You’re _safe_.”

“You tell me how you can allow _that_ to happen. There’s no justification for that!” Rick yelled, furiously.  He breathed for a few minutes, obviously trying to stifle his temper. “I had Clem and Daryl bring you all together so you could see what was happenin’, and know that there has to be another way. Monroe here... he isn’t the man you voted into office as leader. He might have been once. I don’t know.” He looked around the assembled faces, face troubled. Clem saw that he was searching for Daryl’s gaze, and when he found it, seemed to gain strength from that simple connection. “If you guys want, I’ll serve as an interim leader. Say for a month. Give us time to do this properly, have a campaign, and have a council elected. Anyone got objections, let’s hear ‘em now.”

No one spoke, not even the guy Rick was holding at gunpoint.

Monroe sneered. “You’re not going to do any better than anyone else. You think you’re so perfect? Just wait. Just wait until you have to make a decision that someone in your group decides was wrong. Just wait until little pieces start to fall apart and you can’t fuckin’ _think_ for all the people demandin’ your attention.”

“You shut up. Rick’s a better man than you’ll ever be, you little worm.” Carol hit him with the gun, watching impassively as he slumped over. “Asshole. Alright. Now you guys heard the man. Time to shit or get off the pot. Raise your hand if you agree to Rick’s terms.” Carol’s voice cracked like a whip.

Clem almost smiled as hands shot up almost before Carol finished speaking.

Carol looked around at them, hands on her hips. She raised her hand with a small smirk. “I think that’s a majority, Rick.  Anyone opposed?”

Clem counted three hands, one of which was Jack’s, still in front of Rick. It was almost funny, but sad too... like he really didn’t realize anything was wrong.  She took careful note of the two others. She had a feeling she’d want to remember their faces.

There was a commotion at the door, and as one, all fifty or so people turned to see what had caused it.

Michonne walked in as calmly as you please, dark skin lightly dusted with a fine sheen of sweat. She had a bruise on her cheekbone that wasn’t there before. She was dragging a man who was gagged, handcuffed, and tied at the feet by his tied ankles as calmly as though she did it every day of the week. She dropped his feet and looked around the room, lips quirking in a smirk. “Well, damn. Looks like I’m late to the party.”

  
Daryl looked at her captive. “Lemme guess. Dan?” Carl looked around his body, frowning.

Michonne shrugged. “Some jerk I caught running for the hills when the alarm went off. Anyone that runs when there’s an emergency is definitely someone that’s up to no good. And if  I’m wrong and I owe him an apology I’ll get right on that.” She looked over at the woman on the floor and her face changed, concern clouding her features.

“Yeah. That’s Dan. From Monroe’s house.” Carl looked like he wished he had his shotgun back.

“All right then. Consider me elected. Temporarily. I’m going to ask the women directly involved to stay with me. My guys, I’m gonna need you too. Everyone else, y’all go ahead on with your business.”

“What- you’re just gonna kick us out? Just like that?” The woman in the towel sounded affronted.

Rick’s gaze was cold as he flicked it dismissively over her scantily-clad body. “You just voted me as leader. This is me. Leading.” His eyes narrowed, looking back over the assembled townspeople, but they had gotten his less than subtle hint, getting up and filling out with a suddenness that under any other circumstance would be pretty funny. Angelica’s uncle cupped her shoulders, looking like he was ready to take care of all three of them with just his bare hands. Clem couldn’t blame him. He met Rick’s calm stare and Rick just nodded, giving him permission to stay.

Daryl waited until they left, then moved to the front of the room. “Michonne, you got any more of that rope?”

“Yup.” She walked up to the stage, handing it off to Daryl, who quickly tied up the unconscious Monroe and Jack. She looked down at them with a raised eyebrow. “Can I get some help with this?” She nudged the tied up Dan with her foot and he obliged her by thrashing around. Eugene nodded and helped her heave the bulky man up onto the stage. Clem didn’t know Eugene very well, but she knew disgust when she saw it. He looked like he didn’t even want to touch Dan.

“Seems kind of unsporting for them to be out of it.”  Rosita muttered darkly. She shut the door and stood in the way, mirroring Clem, who had come to stand by her. Carl walked to where Clem stood and took his sister.  

Rick jumped down off the stage, walking up to the two women.  “I know everything’s not okay, so I ain’t gonna ask you any stupid questions, but we’re gonna take ‘em somewhere quiet for you two. I want you to think about this, maybe wait a bit ‘til after you’re healed up some, ‘cuz I plan to give you both the sharpest knife I can find and let you have all the time you need with ‘em and that’s something y’all can’t come back from.”

Angelica stood up, face pale and determined. “Oh, I don’t need any time to think about anything.”

Becca’s cracked whisper made Clem’s throat tight. “He kept me.. in the dark. Scared, and alone ‘til ‘gelica came.” Her hand clutched Angelica’s but her face was just as determined as her friend’s. “I don’t need any time. “I’ve been dreaming about this for eight months.”

Rick nodded, looking up at Daryl.  Clem watched as they had an entire conversations with just their eyes, then Daryl nodded once and turned towards the door.

“Alright then. Anyone not stayin’ for the show head on out.”

“I’ll stay.” Carol’s voice was calm.

“My name was on there too.” Michonne took the knife at her waist and handed it to Becca. “Me ‘n’ Carol will make sure they don’t go anywhere.”

“Reckon I’ll be here to help clean up.” Eugene’s voice was quiet.

Clem bit her lip. “I. I think I’ll go on back to the house with Judith.” She looked at the two women. “I’m sorry that... that you weren’t safe here. And that we didn’t find you sooner.”

Angelica rolled her eyes.  “No one’s safe anywhere. It was my own fault for being stupid and forgetting it.” She cocked her head, looking at Clem up and down. “You know... Carl’s mentioned you. Said you’re smart.”

Clem felt the weird flutter in her tummy again.

“You just make sure you stay smart, okay?” Angelica’s lip trembled a little. “Now go on.”

Clem did, with Tara, Rosita, Rick, Carl, and Daryl following her like a sad little parade. Rick and Daryl stopped in front of the door, ignoring the stares from the clustered townspeople and quite clearly guarding the door from interruption against whatever was going on inside.

“You three head on home and clean up some. Abraham and Glenn ‘n the rest should be back from their run, so we’re gonna need to make sure there’s food.”

Clem blinked, a little thrown by the surreality of talking about such normal things as food and showers.  “Do you think that they’ll be okay?” Clem nodded towards the community center and Rick’s face changed a little, becoming sad for an instant. He shrugged.

“I hope so.”

“Dad, I’ll call over to medical and tell them Becca and Angelica are probably gonna come over.”

Rick nodded. “Thanks. Don’t forget to tell them--”

A scream ripped through the air. It was high-pitched and terrified, and hearing it gave Clem a mean sort of satisfaction. Some of the people clustered around gasped and looked at Rick like they expected him to jump in.

There was another, longer scream that broke off into whimpers.  A man’s voice begged God no.

Clem turned around and nudged Carl with her elbow. “Come on.”

“Uh. Are... are you okay?”  Carl shifted Judith to his other hip as they started walking.

“I guess.” Clem took the bands out of her hair and ran her hands through the mess, sighing. “It could have been me in there.”

Carl nodded. “I hope it helps them.”

Clem shrugged. It might. It might not. They might regret doing.... whatever it was that they were doing to the men that had hurt them later, but honestly? Clem didn’t think so.  She wouldn’t. There were lots of things she thought that she would regret... and didn’t. She’d stayed to watch Kenny kill Carver, but Rick didn’t know about that. She’d looked away when Kenny and Jane were fighting,  and Rick didn’t know about that either.  Maybe... it was time that she told some of her past. Maybe the reason they still treated her like a kid was because she’d been acting like one.

It was something to think about anyway.

Clem and Carl stayed quiet, lost in their own thoughts as they walked towards medical. Protocol had it that medical stay where it was if the alarm went off, so that they’d know where to go if it was needed.  If medical fell, it had its own alarm, a flashing light that ran on its own battery to tell people not to expect help from them. Carl waited outside while Clem pulled open the metal door and went to catch Judy up on a quick update of what was happening. It wasn’t until Judy frowned, glaring that she remembered that she and Becca were friends. She felt a little better, knowing that Becca and Angelica would be in good hands once they got here.

By the time they got home, Clem was exhausted. Judith was sleepy enough that she didn’t protest when they put her in the playpen, curling up with a stuffed rabbit and staring kind of glassily at the wall.

“I’ll start dinner. You go ahead and get cleaned up. Your ankle okay?”

Clem looked down at it. After Rick had wrapped it last night, the sprain had hardly hurt. “Yeah. Think I’m gonna take a bath though. Soak it.”

“Uh. Oh-okay. I’ll just be in the kitchen if you need anything.” Carl made a hasty exit, and Clem looked after him, confused.

She got a change of clothes from her drawer and took a quick shower first to get all the ick off of her so that she could soak in it without the water being gross.  Once she unwrapped her ankle, she saw that it was bruised and still a bit tender.  She noticed that her hair was a bit longer than it should be and made a mental note to ask Daryl to cut it for her later.  

Clem made her way downstairs and put her grungy clothes in what Carl called the ‘walker-guts pile’.

“Hey, Clem.”

“Hey.”

Clem waved at Glenn, happy as always to see him when he came back from a run. “Everyone here?”

“Yeah. Abraham is gonna hand out goodies a bit later. I think Carl made something with ... tuna?”

Clem kept her face blank. She’d been hungry before, so hungry that she’s tried eating frozen leaves and chewing snow to fool her stomach into thinking it was full. It had sucked.

It had sucked a lot.

It was _still_ better than Carl’s tuna casserole surprise.

The tuna was okay. And the casserole was fine, but the surprise part...? _Eeeeyyeesh._

Something must have shown on her face,  because Glenn snorted. “Here. I snuck you a sandwich. No one’s gonna care if you go up to your room and catch up on your sleep. Rick told me you had... quite an adventure.”

Glenn was pretty much the nicest human in all of the world.  

“Thanks, Glenn.” Clem took the sandwich and turned around, hustling up the stairs before everyone saw her.  She had finished the sandwich before she made it up, and put the plate on her bedside table.  Judith must still be downstairs, because her crib was empty.  Clem saw that some of the diapers had been knocked over, and that bottles on the changing table were on their sides. She bit her lip, imagining Rick or Daryl coming up to check up on Judith and seeing that Clem’s bed was empty.

The thought sobered her, and she lay down on her bed, staring up at the ceiling.

Here- where she could take a bath, where she could turn on a light before entering a room, where she could walk around in shorts and a tank top without worrying about a barrier of cloth to protect her from snapping, rotting jaws- here was _not_ reality. Even in this community, something dark had been going on right under their noses.  Clem sighed. Rick would straighten that out. Like today, the people might not much like his rules, but they’d appreciate the order he’d bring.  Even when she’d been travelling with him to the ASZ, as soon as he’d woken up she felt immeasurably better just by his presence.  This wouldn’t be like Carver and the mess at Lowe’s. It would... it would be good, ‘cuz Rick was _good_.

Clem turned over on her side, staring at the window she’d snuck out of. The sun had gone down, and shadows from the limbs danced and waved on her walls. Clem had only closed her eyes for a second when she heard the soft knock on her door.

She sat up, disoriented. It was dark, with Judith’s small lamp on, projecting bunnies and clouds on the wall by her crib.  Crap. She must have fallen asleep. She sat up, pushing her hair out of her face.  She noticed that someone had put a blanket over her, and that Judith was a baby-powdery lump under her covers. She’d been so out of it that someone had walked in here, without waking her up. Sheesh. _Way to be aware of your surroundings, Clem._

The door opened and Carl poked his head through.  “Hey.”

“Hey your---” Clem yawned hard enough to pop her jaw. “self. Ow.”

Carl came in and sat down on her bed.  “You missed dinner. Glenn said you were gonna go take a nap. Are you okay?”

Clem nodded, sitting up so her back was against the headboard. Carl was sitting on her blankets. He held a bag out and Clem gave him a look, opening it up.

“Oh Awesome!”

There were probably ten different paperback books. Clem could see dragons and wizards on the front and grinned.

“Abraham brought them. Said I could give them to you, rather than make you wait. And Uh. There was something else.”

Clem, who was reading the back of the book, flipped it over and opened it, reading the first chapter. Something about a dragon named Ellegon and--

“Clem?”

_Oh shoot_. “Sorry. I just--” She set down the book, just now realizing what Carl had said.

Carl was smiling. “I know. It’s fine. He got you the whole set.” They both looked at the books, the silence kind of weird between them. “ I... I just wanted to say that I’m sorry.”

That got her attention.

“What?”

“I’m sorry for treating you like... like an annoying kid. You’re smarter than I am.” He smirked. “At some stuff. I guess.”

“Oh _thanks_!” Clem punched him in the arm. Carl grabbed her hand and held it in the two of his and Clem jerked her gaze up to Carl’s, a little thrown off by the strangely gentle reaction.

“I uh. I just wanted you to know that I’m going to try not to be so overprotective. And I’m sorry.”

“You said that already.” Clem wasn’t sure why her voice was whispering, or why she couldn’t seem to look away from Carl’s eyes... or the way his hands felt almost too warm, cradling her own.

“I’m glad that... that you’ll always have my back, Clem.”

Carl’s shoulders heaved with what looked like a deep breath, but before Clem could respond, he leaned forward the tiniest bit and kissed her on the cheek.  

Clem’s eyes widened.  Carl’s eyes widened. He scrambled back and took two quick steps towards the door, leaving without saying anything else.  Clem’s hand covered her cheek, still shocked. Crazily, she had the thought that if she didn’t move her hand, the kiss would never go away. Her whole body felt warm, and she knew her cheeks were probably bright red.  

Carl hadn’t shut the door when he... bolted, and the rumble of Rick’s voice was pretty loud. Clem scrunched down in her bed, pretending sleep, peeking out of her eyelashes towards the gap in the door. She could still feel the impact of Carl’s lips on her cheek.  Part of her mind was blaring _oh my god oh my **god**_ and part of her mind was still staring at Carl in shock, probably with her eyes wide open.

“You ... just sayin’ goodnight to Clem?”

“No! I mean... Judith. I was just.. uh. I heard a sound and was just checking on her.”

“Uh huh. You look a little ... flushed, there, son.”

“Yep. Well, it’s warm in here. You might want to open a window. I’m just gonna go. Uh. To bed. I mean, to _sleep_!”

There was the hasty sound of Carl’s boots on the landing and the squeak of her door hinges as Rick looked in on her through the crack in the door.  Clem was very aware that her books were scattered over her bed, and she was scrunched down like a moron with the covers up to her nose. She highly doubted she was fooling him, but planned to fake it until possibly death.

“Hooo-Boy. This is gonna be ... interestin’,” Rick muttered under his breath. The door shut with a small _click_ and Clem flung back the covers, staring up at her ceiling like it had all the answers to all the questions in the world.

This time, when she fell asleep, it took a long, long time.

But she woke up with a smile on her face.

**  
  
  
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**THE END!**

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**(final part in this series up soonish!)**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **  
> A/N: Whewwwwwww. Welp. There you have it. My take on Clem and Carl as brotps, but I guess I couldn’t leave it there.. because aw damn they're just so darn cute together. The next story will take place several years in the future, and will probably be my usual mix of angst and ... angister angst. It won’t be as long, (I have planned out about 5 chapters, but as you can see that doesn’t mean much because it would take the planets aligning, AND an act of Congress to get me to stick to a chapter length. lol) and will be more focused on the route Telltale went with their games. You might want to follow my tumblr (I always announce updates there) or subscribe to my author page if you have an account here on AO3 so you don’t miss anything.**
> 
> **If you like this, blame Jen. This is all her fault. I dragged her kicking and screaming into this fandom and I’m still not sorry.Thanks as always to my beta FoxyK, who makes me look like I can write, and saved this chapter a few times. Love you guys!**
> 
> **THANK YOU for sticking with this, and for the comments both here and on tumblr. They really do make my day. <3**

**Author's Note:**

> As always, thanks for commenting and the concrit, either here or on [tumblr](http://1lostone.tumblr.com/)!!


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